CHAPTER 27: DEEPER INTO PARADISE.

"Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body." H.L. Mencken.

The small group exit the bar and found Chloe, Wayland, Inez and Asimov waiting for them. The remaining members greeted the missing Vault dweller, who managed to avoid a bone crushing hug from the Super Mutant.

"Again, guys, I'm sorry I had you looking for me all over this place." Louis apologized to them.

"It wasn't easy." Inez said with crossed arms. "Asking for directions is next to impossible with all these drunks and Raiders around. They were no help."

"I calculated a 22% probability you would go to the bars first." Asimov informed.

"How did you come up with that?..." Louis asked with surprise.

"Are we leaving now that Louis is found?" Wayland asked next.

"Yes, please, this place creeps me out." Chloe agreed while keeping her eyes on some Raiders. "A group of women with tattoos and skimpy leather clothes asked if I wanted to join them. Very aggressively..."

Radcliffe knew what Raider group she was talking about and couldn't hold back a snicker of lewd thoughts. His laugh didn't go unnoticed, the group set their eyes on the sketchy man who smiled nervously in return.

Inez already disliked the him just by his affiliation. "What do you want?"

"A lot of booze. But that's behind the point." Radcliffe chuckled.

"It's beside the point..." Asimov corrected. "And you didn't answer the question."

"Uh, whatever, robot. Aren't you an Assaultron?" Radcliffe wondered, scratching the side of his head.

Louis went up beside him to explain. "Guys, this is Radcliffe. And long story short, I tossed him a pair of brass knuckles during a cage fight that turned out to be rigged. But he found me in this bar only awhile ago."

"I can understand you helping someone, it's your obsession..." Doug sighed before looking back to Radcliffe. "But that doesn't explain why you tracked him down..."

Radcliffe held his tongue, he kept saying to himself that he needed to gain their trust to steal the Pip-Boy. But finding out he had so many odd friends made it worse. "I said I liked booze. So I showed my thanks by buying him some whiskey..." he held up the half empty bottle.

"Then if you're done buying him a drink, we'll be on our way." Victoria said as they began to turn away.

"Hold on a second!" Radcliffe held his hand out sharply. "You're gonna leave so soon?"

"Thanks for the drinks, but like I said we're just passing through." Louis answered him.

"But why not get something to eat? Or supplies? Or better yet...we can hit up one of the many bars and clubs around here!" Radcliffe quickly looped around in front of them. "If you guys are going to be here only once, then enjoy it while you can. There's even places to sleep if that's all you guys want."

The wanderers thought it over to themselves, a lot of time had been lost trying to regroup. Louis' eyes narrowed in thought, the Raider's suggestion to stay might confirm a certain suspicion that he had been thinking about.

"On second thought guys, let's stay for a little longer." Louis spoke, which surprised them all. "Hey, Radcliffe, you said there's a place we can eat?"

Radcliffe grinned and clapped his hands together. "Sure do! It's a place called the Chow Station. You're gonna drown in food once we're done! Follow me!" he spun around to lead.

Doug waited for a few moments until Radcliffe was out of earshot. "Louis, why the hell are we staying here? You don't even know this guy."

Louis turned his head them. "I know that, but I have a theory about this place that I can't shake. You have to trust me on this."

"What theory about this place could there be?" Victoria asked in disbelief. "It seems pretty straightforward. Eat, drink, gamble, fuck, sleep and do it all over again."

"I'll explain later." Louis slipped his hands into his pockets. "And to be honest, I want to see what they got. I'm kinda tired of mystery can food and jerky..."

Twenty minutes later the group came into a new section that filled their noses with all kinds of new smells. Unlike the random food stands and butcher shops, the Chow Station held an abundance of open restaurants with actual cooks fixing meals for hungry customers at tables of all kinds and stools. Even a fully assembled diner that was brought in piece by piece rested in middle of the strip with working stations inside.

"Huh, this is a lot more than I expected." Joe stood impressed by the amount of variety.

"And a lot more clean looking too." Chloe stated.

"That's right, the Chow Station has cooks making just about anything you can think of!" Radcliffe extended his arms out to the busy place. "I usually like going to small stands, but I sometimes make the trip here when I have a lot of caps on me."

"At least we got choices." Doug said as he spotted a barbeque location with long grills cooking all kinds of meat. "What place are you going to choose, Wayland?"

The Super Mutant didn't respond, instead he started walking towards the open barbeque with a growling stomach, running on pure hunger from the sizzling meat drawing him to it.

"Never mind. Stupid question to ask." Doug followed to make sure no one freaked out upon seeing him.

Going to the Chow Station proved to be a nice decision. The menus gave them a variety of choices, and the people cooking at their stations were very skilled at their work. Everyone broke off into small groups to pick out their own meals. Doug and Joe stayed with Wayland at the open grill, the Super Mutant held two trays meant for carrying plates in his big palms. He selected a number of ribs, steaks, kabobs, roasting potatoes and corn on the cobs. Doug and Joe selected almost the same things, but in much smaller portions compared to him. Chloe and Inez checked out a station that specialized in stews and soups. Louis, Victoria and Radcliffe hit up the diner, the place used prewar food as part of their ingredients, all guaranteed fresh from the cans and boxes. Asimov held a table for them, Cavall wagging his tail while waiting for his meal. The group joined up again after paying for their meals, Louis placed a bowl of chopped meat down in front of Cavall, who dived in snout first.

"I can't believe they have Mirelurk stew all the way out here." Chloe stirred the big chunks around with her spoon.

"There's a farm near a river that catches and butchers those creepy bastards." Radcliffe said before taking a big bite off his kabob. Losing his first meal hours ago left him starving. "They throw the bodies in insulated coolers and bring them here."

"I gather Paradise's Raid gets a lot of trade." Victoria asked as she watched a few traders roll in supplies on carts. "Do they come from all around?"

"Everywhere for miles." Radcliffe finished his first kabob and started another. "Paradise's Raid is in the middle of nowhere and the beginning of any starting point. Kinda crazy when you think about it."

"More like people don't have a choice in the matter." Joe grumbled to himself. "This place creates a need that most can't afford to pass up."

Doug stopped eating for a moment, Wayland had already finished half his plates of meat and started popping the potatoes into his mouth, eating them whole in one bite. "Uh, so, Wayland, you got enough to eat?..."

"I'm going back for more. This stuff is great." he picked up a corn on the cob and stuck half of it in his mouth.

"Wait, you're not supposed to eat the-"

Wayland bit the corn in half and chewed noisily, not even noticing the nonedible part.

"Never mind..." Doug went back to his meal and noticed one of his steaks missing. "What the hell?"

Radcliffe sat beside Louis, the Pip-Boy seemed to mock him every time he saw it. "So it seems like I made a good call to come here, huh? This place has something for everyone, that's why it's considered paradise."

"Yes, we get the idea." Victoria commented a tad annoyed. She finished her bread roll and saw Radcliffe's plate was missing a skewer. "Hey, did you drop a kabob or something?"

Radcliffe looked down and counted the remaining kabobs. "The fuck?! Who took my food?!"

Joe chuckled in his throat to their confusion. "Better be careful. He's quick for someone his size."

"Who are you talking about?" Louis asked, stirring his bowl of Blamco mac & cheese with chunks of cram in it. He felt something brush against his legs and looked down to see Cavall poke his head out with a skewer in his mouth. "Oh, so you're the one sneaking off with everyone's food." he took the skewer away from him.

"He just leaped up and snatched it off their plates. It was pretty funny..." Joe chuckled again and tossed a small piece of steak aside to get Cavall away from the table.

Radcliffe shrugged off the loss and started eating another. "So once we're done, you guys want to hit up a bar? I know a few good ones around."

"Shouldn't we look for rooms to sleep first?" Inez asked.

"Don't worry about it. There's always rooms here if you plan on sleeping. Because most people here don't want to just sleep." Radcliffe spoke suggestively while standing up with his plate. "I'm getting some more grub. Be back in a second..."

He went back to the long grill and took his time picking the kabobs. The bottle of sleeping pills hanged heavily in his pocket, a simple plan that turned complicated. He needed to separate the group, try to get as many of them away from each other and knock Louis out. That's when a new idea came to mind, a place where he could get them separated and slip the pills in a drink again. Radcliffe took a few more kabobs and sat back down with them as they laughed at the end of a short story between Louis and Doug.

"And the maintenance men never even knew we were down there in water treatment plant!" Louis held back his laugh to finish speaking.

"You two seriously swam in one of the purification tanks when the top was open?!" Inez almost choked on the food in her mouth from laughing.

"That's a good way to contaminate the water in your Vault." Asimov stated plainly.

"It was fine, the water gets cleaned in several stage cycles and that one was under maintenance anyway. If anything the tank was a giant tub with a deep bottom." Louis said before finishing the last bite from his bowl.

Everyone else had almost finished their meals with some going back for seconds. Wayland himself got another heaping of meat and potatoes, and the people who served him went from being on edge in fear to very happy thanks to the total of his meals. After that the dirty plates were left on the long table to be gathered.

"So where's our next stop, tour guide?" Chloe asked him.

"Just follow me. You guys will love this." Radcliffe answered, glad to play the part.

Almost thirty minutes of walking lead the wanderers to a wide entrance that flooded the ground with a ruby red light. Music rumbled from beyond the opening, the concrete ground filled with people and prostitutes, buildings made in the shape of clubs and brothels with neon signs displaying their names. And above the entrance the words, 'Red Light District' buzzed with a dancing female shape on one side and a dancing male figure on the other.

"Oh, my god, why did you bring us here?!" Victoria's face cringed at the sight of half naked people wandering about.

"Because this place is awesome!" Radcliffe answered cheerfully. "Whatever your kink is this place has got it and more."

"We're not sleeping with anyone! Why would you even think we'd want to?!" Joe spat in disgust.

"Hey, chill, there's things for Ghouls here too!" Radcliffe spun around towards him. "And I never said let's go find someone to fuck. Although I wouldn't say no to that either."

"Then why did you bring us here?" Doug questioned.

"A strip club!" Radcliffe exclaimed loudly. "Come on, don't you want to see beautiful women fly up and down poles? Getting drunk at the bar? And as for you ladies there's plenty of clubs with stripper men. So come on, live a little! The world won't end if you guys don't leave Paradise's Raid today..." his planned hinged on them agreeing to come along.

The group stood in an awkward position, and they couldn't deny that Radcliffe made a good point about losing a day not hurting. Louis looked at the Pip-Boy and flipped the knob to the section with the signal arrow. Its direction steady as ever and had not changed its course since the last time he checked.

He sighed lightly and lowered his arm. "You know what, let's do it. We're all consenting adults here, let's have a little fun!"

"Fuck it. Let's unwind a little..." Chloe said while looking to Victoria and Inez. "Come on ladies, let's go see some men dance for our amusement."

Victoria's cheeks started turning red at the thought. "You're not serious?"

Inez pointed to her cheeks. "Hey, Vic, you're starting to blush a little. Sounds like you want to try it."

Chloe turned her head back to Radcliffe. "So what do you recommend, Radcliffe?"

"Oh, very funny." Radcliffe answered with a fake laugh. "But if you're asking, I've heard that place is pretty good for the ladies..." he pointed towards a building several meters away.

Its sign above the entrance buzzed with bright green letters calling it the 'Den of Snakes' with a neon snake coiling around the name in an endless loop.

"A bit on the nose, don't you think?..." Louis read the sign, its lack of imagination easy to see.

"Going to these clubs will serve no purpose to me. I will acquire rooms for us and put away our backpacks ..." Asimov held his arms out to take them.

"I'm going too. It's been so long since I've eaten so much!" Wayland patted his full stomach. "I need to rest for awhile."

"You ate enough for ten people, not surprising..." Joe nodded in agreement.

Radcliffe mentally cheered to himself. That took care of two more members with the women going off to another club. Asimov and Wayland gathered everyone's backpacks and most of their weapons, leaving only their sidearms for protection. Radcliffe gave Asimov and Wayland quick directions to the nearest rental rooms that rested a bit outside of the Red Light District, giving him even more time. They had Cavall go with the two since the clubs obviously didn't allow animals in.

The ladies wished the guys a good time and started moving towards the club. But Inez stopped in her tracks and looked to Louis with a serious face.

"Just be careful around him..." she shot Radcliffe a warning glare who noticed it right away before she joined back up with Victoria and Chloe.

Radcliffe waited until they reached the club to ask. "So, which joint you guys want to hit up? Go ahead and pick one." he gestured out to the clubs before them.

The three looked around, reading the signs to see what might catch their interest. After a minute Louis' eyes spotted a strip club with a red and white glow to it.

"Uh, how about that one? It seems like a nice choice..."

Radcliffe looked towards the building, his stomach tighten upon seeing the one strip club he actually didn't want to go to. The Peppermint Deathclaw's sign shined brightly with a neon form of a Deathclaw flashing in red and white patterns.

"No! No, not that one!" Radcliffe waved his hands out hastily. He had visited that place too many times, and last thing he wanted was the people running it to bring up his debt. "The women there are ugly! Like really rough from the Wasteland! And a lot of them got bullet scars and scissor scars on their stomachs and shit! Really, it's a place for old perverts with very low standards!"

"It's caesarean scar." Louis rolled his eyes, wondering why he bothered to correct him.

"Okay, then how about that one?" Doug pointed to another across the street. Its sign saying, 'Atom's Bombshells' with an image of two very big atom bombs in front of a woman's chest. "If the sign is any indication, we're gonna have a good time."

Yes, Atom's Bombshells! Let's go!" Radcliffe all but dragged them to the club.

The four reached the entrance and got in line. After a few minutes the bouncers let them through, their eyes never leaving Radcliffe until he was in considering his well known reputation of getting drunk and out of control. The inside greeted them with pounding music, faint smell of tobacco smoke, and people cheering and catcalling to the women dancing on stages and single stands. Buckets at the edges of the stages held the caps that people paid to see more, some even starting to overflow. The women proved to be incredibly attractive, almost as if they came from an age before the bombs. Their rare beauty practically a treasure considering how rough and worn people become in the Wasteland. The group took their seats at a table near one of the stages where a woman with tassel pasties currently entertained the crowd near her.

"Isn't this the best?! How often do you get to see women like this?!" Radcliffe asked loudly over the music.

"Not often I would imagine!" Louis answered, couldn't deny he was right.

Joe leaned back in his seat and lit up a smoke, taking a quick drag and flicking the ashes into a tray. "It's been a very long time since I've been in a club. A very long time."

"And when was that?" Doug asked him.

Joe paused, blurry memories came to mind. He remembered being a tad buzzed, being almost forcibly dragged by a few men he once knew, a new ring around his left ring finger. He cleared his dry throat before more memories came up. "Uh, sometime before the bombs dropped. I can't remember much."

A waitress came by their table, Radcliffe started them off by ordering a round of beers. He needed time to work their way up to stronger drinks and slip the pills in. Best to knock all three of them out at once, people passing out at tables happens often in the clubs and bars.

"So, tell me something, that Inez girl..." Radcliffe needed to keep the casual talk going. "I get the feeling she really hates me. And I'm pretty sure I haven't met her before. At least I think I haven't..."

"The short story," Louis adjusted himself for a moment, resting his arms on the table. "Before joining us, she was abducted by a group of Rust Devils that forced her to fix new types of Sentry Bots. It was a long and bloody battle that we almost didn't survive as the psycho leader nearly cut me to pieces with flaming swords..."

"Rust Devils?! Those people are a bunch of fuckers!" Radcliffe scoffed, blown away by the short but crazy tale. "We've had a number of them come and go here. Always looking for technology, I believe they helped design a few of the sex bots."

All three of them threw up a little in their mouths, the redesigned Mr. Handy still fresh in their minds. Luckily the waitress returned with a tray of beers and set them down. All four popped the tops and pocket the caps and took big drinks while watching a new dancer come on stage. Wearing pasties with atomic warning signs printed on them.

"Yes! Let's get this party started!" Radcliffe raised his beer bottle for them to toast.

()()()()()()()

During that time, the ladies sat down at a small table and ordered a round of drinks to get started. The strip club boomed with music, muscular men dancing on stages wearing skimpy themes like a firefighter or police officer and even a military soldier. Buckets of caps rested on the edge of stages with howling women throwing in more to see clothes drop on the floor.

"Looks like we got here just in time." Chloe said, clapping for more from the dancer on stage in front of them.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this..." Victoria took in her surroundings, watching the men dance made her feel uneasy.

"It pains me to say it, but that Radcliffe guy does have a good point about unwinding." Inez said before a feeling of bitterness washed over. "I just wish Louis didn't bump into someone like him."

"I know what you mean, but it doesn't seem these Raiders will start anything unless given a reason." Chloe kept her eyes on the women Raiders, she could never trust them either.

The waiter came with their drinks and placed them on the table. The women toasted to themselves and watched the show on stage. Time passed for awhile, the alcohol and cheering of roused women started to make them unwind and join in on the fun. Every now and then a few caps from their pockets went flying into the bucket on the stage as the current dancer in only a short bathing suit danced in their general direction.

Chloe finished another drink and placed the glass down next to the five other empty glasses. Her mind becoming more fuzzy with each drink. "You know...I'm be...beginning to think these guys aren't going to show the snakes!" she hiccuped into her palm. "Tha-that's false advertising if you ask me..."

"Okay, you need to slow down a bit..." Inez giggled to her slurs. Her head hung limply for a moment. "Let's get some water in you..."

"Maybe we're not paying enough." Victoria half joked. She raised her finger up to get the nearest waiter's attention. "We would like a pitcher of water please."

"And another round of the club special!" Chloe called out, shaking the empty glass in the air.

"You're gonna pass out where you sit..." Inez warned her before muttering something in Spanish about not carrying her.

Their new drinks and pitcher of water soon came, Victoria and Inez made Chloe drink the water with her new club special to clear her head. The dancer on stage took his bucket of caps while picking up his few article of clothes and walked back to the curtain entrance.

"Alright ladies, you ready for the main event?!" the woman announcer called out to the ladies in the club, who answered back with loud cheers. "Then let's get this party started! Here comes Tommy Tube!"

"Tommy Tube? What kind of name is that?" Victoria asked, noticing a lot of the women in the club turned their attention to the stage.

The lights dimmed as spotlights turned to the center stage. The curtain opened and a new man stepped out wearing a robe that touched the stage floor. He walked towards the middle, pausing for a moment before dropping it. The entire club went wild, for the man with a bodybuilder physic wore only a speedo with an improvised tube of cloth hanging in front of it.

Victoria, Chloe and Inez's jaws practically fell off, they could easily tell the tube wasn't just for show.

"It reaches all the way past his knees..." Inez eyes went star struck.

"Now the club name makes sense." Victoria couldn't take her eyes off either.

"I really hope they bring out more snakes!" Chloe took another big drink.

"But hold on ladies!" the announcer said over the screams. "There's many more snakes to see!"

The three finally joined in with the crowd, their ecstatic cheers practically made the foundation of the club shake.

()()()()()()()()

Radcliffe waited a few hours before putting his plan into action. The dancing women and drinks loosened them up, giving him the perfect opening. Two women danced in front of them, a blonde with short hair near Joe, and another covered with tattoos near Doug as Louis kept his eyes on the stage. Awhile ago he told them about the club's special drink, the Atomic Slammer. He left so he could order them after going to the bathroom. Waiting by the bar, Radcliffe held three pills in the palm of his hand. His first attempt might have been foiled earlier, but it was only the three of them together this time. The bartender placed four glasses on a tray, the drinks had a red color with green at the bottom to resemble a nuclear blast in the distance with the fallout at the bottom. Radcliffe pulled the tray towards him and waited for the bartender to leave. Three pills plopped into the drinks with his drink kept at the side, in moments the pills dissolved and Radcliffe grinned at his plan coming together and picked up the small tray.

The stripper in front of Joe seemed to be really interested him. "Don't get much Ghouls in this club. They tend to go to a club with Ghoul dancers." she spoke to him, not losing a single beat to her moves.

"Eh, I'm with these guys." Joe pointed his thumb to Louis and Doug. "And I know making small talk is part of the job, but you don't have to talk to me if it makes you uncomfortable."

"Quite the opposite..." the stripper landed in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I happen to find Ghouls very attractive. I love that leathery feeling all over me. And your eyes are very pretty..." she gave him a sultry wink.

Joe's right eye twitched, the cigarette in his hand dropped to the floor. In all his two hundred plus years, a normal human woman had never hit on him before.

Radcliffe stood only a few feet away from the table, a smile twitching at the edge of his lips. Putting one pill in each drink won't knock them out right away like the few he slipped in Louis' other drink, so no one would suspect anything right away since they already looked buzzed.

But as fate would have it, his plan seemed to fly off the rails again. A hard shove from behind made him stumble forward, the drink tray flipped out of his hands and shattered all over the floor.

"Hey! You fucking asshole!" a man shouted.

The club went silent with only the music still going. Three men with pissed scowls on their faces stood behind Radcliffe. One man dressed in a sharp suit, and the other two both Louis and Radcliffe recognized, the one fighter that had the spiked dusters, and the other that wore the bandanna.

"Think you can beat up my fighters and just walk away?!" the man in the suit questioned, clearly the sponsor of the fighters he went up against.

Radcliffe didn't turn to them, his eyes still on the spilled drinks at his feet. "You got to be fucking kidding me..." he whispered only to himself.

"I'm talking to you! Turn around now!" the sponsor grew more agitated.

Radcliffe gritted his teeth and turn around to face them. The women near their table backed off, Louis already standing to jump in if a fight broke out. Which seemed likely to everyone watching.

"You spilled my drinks that I was getting for me and my friends here..." Radcliffe pointed down to the tray. "Now pay us back and we'll forget this accident."

"Like fuck I am!" the sponsor's face reddened. "You had outside help to win that match!"

"Yeah, after you had your people gang up on him in a rigged match that was supposed to be a free for all!" Louis pointed out, which earned the murmurs of the onlookers.

"And who the hell asked you?!" the sponsor turned his eyes to him. "Mind your own fucking business!"

"Listen, you bastard." Radcliffe stepped back in front of the sponsor. "The only reason I'm not mopping the floor with your face right now is because I'm having a good time. So stop trying to make me look like the bad guy here and train your fighters to fight better! Hell, there was four of them and they had weapons and I still beat their asses just by getting my own!"

The Sponsor gritted his teeth, fist trembling at his sides. "Fight better?! That's rich coming from someone like you! A fucking cold-blooded murderer from the Berserker Dragons!"

The club seemed to go cold upon hearing that name, quite whispers between themselves.

Radcliffe felt a shiver go down his spine. He couldn't stand hearing that name, it only brought feelings of dread and pain from faded beatings.

"You should have died like the rest of them!" the sponsor threw his fist, socking Radcliffe right in the cheek.

His balance gave out, and before he knew it his back was on the floor. The people stood to watch the fight unfold, Doug grabbed a beer bottle by the neck and broke the body on the floor. Joe pulled out his Webley as Louis marched over to help Radcliffe back up. Unknown to him, one of the pills fell out of his pocket. He forgot to fully push the cork down on the opening and they spilled out in his deep pocket.

Doug and Joe stood beside Louis and Radcliffe as the fighters beside their sponsor got ready to fight. A gunshot to the air caused a round of screams from the people, one of the four bouncers held his smoking gun in the air.

"Who started this fight?!" the bouncer demanded.

"Those three assholes right there!" the bartender pointed to the fighters. "Get them out of here and beat their asses!"

The bouncers quickly wrested their arms from behind and held tight. They tried to kick and struggle, but the bouncers only held tighter to the point of bruising.

"This isn't over, Radcliffe! You fucking Berserker Dragon trash! Do the world a favor and blow your brains out! Go to hell with the rest of them." the sponsor shouted as he was being dragged out.

After that the club went back to normal with its activity. Louis was about to turn back to their table and happened to look down and see a pill near his foot. He frowned curiously and quickly leaned down to pick it up. The reddish pill was definitely prewar, it had numbers and letters on it that something made in the Wasteland wouldn't have. It was then he saw Radcliffe pat his side pocket and heard a slight rattle, as if there was more in it. He quickly put the pill in his pocket, something in the back of his mind told him he needed to find out what it did.

A waitress came over to mop up the mess on the floor. The bartender offered new drinks on the house to smooth over the trouble. The four sat quietly for a few minutes, the dancer talking to Joe whispered what time she got off into his ear before walking away.

Louis took a sip from his Atomic Slammer to taste it and work up some courage. "So...these Berserker Dragons..."

"Please, just don't." Radcliffe looked down at his drink, swirling it around to discolor the mix. "It's a bloody and horrible piece of history that everyone wants buried and dead." he gulped down his drink in moments. "And yes, I'm pretty much the last one. Not that I ever gave a shit to begin with. They were wiped out when I was young."

"They were really that bad, huh?" Joe asked hesitantly.

"The fucking worse..." Radcliffe stood up from his seat, a hand on his bruised cheek. "Excuse me for a moment. Gonna make sure I'm not missing any teeth."

Louis watched him walk off in a hurry, there was still many questions he wanted to ask, including the pill he picked up.

Radcliffe shoved the door open and let it slam shut behind him. Quickly, he looked down at the stalls to make sure no one was there. He stood in front of the towel dispenser and took a deep long breath. Before slamming his fist into it.

"Fuck!" he punched the metal towel dispenser again, leaving a deep dent. "How hard is it to drug someone?! All I want is to lift that fucking Pip-Boy!" he dug into his pocket and felt the pills. "And now these things are all over the fucking place!"

He took out the pills and put them back in the bottle and pressed the cork down tight. After that he spat blood into the sink from the cut in his inner cheek.

"I'm screwed if I don't get that device. I'll get it even if I have to hack his arm off with my hatchet!" Radcliffe gave his neck bones a round of pops and spat out some more blood. "But first I need a drink to dull this pain."

Radcliffe exited the bathroom and went back to his casual act and ordered more drinks for everyone and mostly himself. The fun continued for another hour as he tried to come up with a new plan. Doug found a stripper with a Vault theme to her bikini that had the number 69 on the left cup and surprised Louis by paying her to give him a lap dance. The group finally got up to leave with over a dozen beer bottles and empty glasses on the table.

They exited the club with staggers to their steps. And lucky the women seemed to have the same idea as well and met up with them outside. Chloe stood in the middle of the three, her arms slung over Victoria and Inez's shoulders.

"Looks like someone partied a little too hard..." Louis chuckled, a little red in the face as well.

Chloe's head swayed back and forth, the world around her spinning. "Sh-shut up. I'm...fine. I just need a moment and...I'll be back at it!"

Asimov, Wayland, and Cavall soon approached them, their timing most likely from the calculations of the Assaultron.

"I take it you all had your fun. Indulging in the pleasures of naked flesh dancing for your amusement." the robot said to them.

"If you mean we had fun, then yes..." Doug rolled his eyes.

"So let's keep the fun going!" Radcliffe spoke out loud. There was still plenty of places he could find another opportunity. "I hear there's a pretty bitchin' night club not too far off!"

Louis' suspicion never left, he thought over everything Radcliffe had done with them and started to realize he had been a bit pushy. "Hey, is there a market nearby? I would like to see what Paradise's Raid has to sell other than booze."

Radcliffe blinked curiously. "You mean like bullets and guns?"

"Yes, like those." Louis answered. "And supplies and maybe a few books?"

"Uh, sure. The market has those kind of places too. Just follow me." Radcliffe took the lead once more.

"The market sounds like a good place to clear our heads after all we've drank." Joe nodded, feeling lightheaded for a moment.

"Hey Joe, what did that stripper tell you?..." Doug knew that wasn't the full truth.

The glow of the Red Light District slowly faded from behind the wanderers. Even though it was late, the market was still alive with people buying from open stands and stores. The location was inside near the next factory, lights from above lit the place as bright as day.

"No shortage of stuff here either." Doug stood impressed by the endless rows of places to buy things.

"As I've always said, you can never have enough ammo..." Joe spoke, heading towards an ammo stand.

Chloe slurred out a few incoherent words, as if trying to get involved with the conversation they were having.

"We'll find a place that sells water." Inez said while adjusting Chloe's arm again. "She's still very drunk."

"You're...drunk..." Chloe retorted with another slur.

Louis stood away from them deep in thought. He watched what the Raiders brought to sell at the market stands. Backpacks and duffle bags of weapons, ammo, clothes, and supplies. That's when Louis noticed something was off, the things they carried seemed out of place even for them. And that's when he saw something that made him piece it together, three Raiders near a stand opened up a dusty backpack with a faded red stain on the side. The Raider took out a few pairs of clothes, some toys, and food packed for traveling.

Louis felt a sick feeling in his stomach, the red stain on the side could only be one thing. Blood from a gunshot wound. All the other Raiders had similar things to sell, supplies from travelers that became victims of their attacks and slaughter.

"Bastards. I shouldn't be surprised..." Louis said to himself, a small group near their location talked about their latest haul.

"Hey Louis," Radcliffe approached him from behind and patted his shoulder. "You said something about books, right? That place over there has books." he pointed to a makeshift housing near the inner wall.

Louis took his thoughts off the Raiders and their ill gotten gain and glanced to Radcliffe. "Right, thank you. I'll be back in a minute..."

He walked off before Radcliffe could say anything else. Louis' sudden change of tone made him worry for a moment.

The Vault dweller approached Doug, who stood in front of a knife stand and looked over the various pocket knives for sale. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Keep on eye on Radcliffe till I get back." he quickly whispered before continuing.

"Not a problem..." Doug replied as he inspected a black knife.

Louis entered the opening, the entire store overflowing with books to the point that at first glance someone would think the entire structure was made of stacked books. At the counter a middle aged woman sat with a book in front of her, passing the time as she flipped the pages.

"Do you have any medical books?" Louis approached the counter and asked. "Preferably ones with information on pills."

The clerk looked up from her book and checked him over. "You look too young to have a hard time getting it up."

Louis felt his face grow hot. "What?! No! I just want to know about a prewar pill that I found."

"The medical books are in the back with a sign above the shelf. But this isn't a library, well preserved books are twenty to thirty caps each."

Louis frowned until an idea came to mind. He reached into his pouch and took out six caps. "How about this? I give you this much and you let me have a quick read. I'll be in and out in a few minutes." he placed the caps down on the counter.

The woman looked at the caps for a moment before dragging them across the counter to her register. "Make it quick."

Louis followed her directions and came up to the shelf of medical books, most in good condition with only a faint smell of mold. His finger ran across the rows until finding what he needed, a medicine book filled with info on every known pill and medication made in the States. He flipped through page after page to find a category, the pill placed on the shelf. SP3271 was the printed number on it, which helped close in on the type until finally finding the right page. That's when he almost dropped the book, the quick description on the brand confirmed his suspicion, a type of sleeping pill for people with heavy insomnia and trouble causing patients in asylums. Louis shoved the pill back into his pocket and returned the book on the shelf. Quickly, he marched back to the entrance and hastily thanked the clerk before leaving.

He hurried back to his friends, they hadn't strayed far from each other during his absence. Radcliffe stood alone not too far from them, his body language showing he was running out of patients. Louis felt like coming up from behind and punching him in the back of the head. He didn't look like the kind of guy that needed sleeping pills considering how much he drank. But Louis played it cool and decided to see if his hunch was right, and that meant going to the dance club he talked about.

"Okay, I'm done browsing the books." Louis said to get their attention.

"And you didn't pick one?" Doug asked surprised. "That's not like you."

"Everything they had was either crumbling or something I've already read or didn't interest me." Louis answered casually as usual. "So, where's this dance club you mentioned? The night's still young after all."

Radcliffe smiled again, his eagerness only making the Vault dweller suspect him more. "About time! You guys will love this, I promise! We're gonna dance the night away."

"Or until we pass out." Doug commented, he saw the world around him hazed for a moment. "And I am not too far behind..."

The wanderers were lead to the far back of the third factory, a dark section with only barrels and literal dumpster fires as light. Crowds moved their way through the dark, some with glow in the dark paint on their bodies and clothes in messy splotches. Soon, music pounded their ears, the ceiling dropping bits of concrete every time a hard beat was played. Large double doors was the only thing that separated them from the full blast of the dance club. Two burly men stood at the sides with another letting people in a few at a time. Once again a mix of Raiders and travelers all looking for a good time to dance and drink.

They approached the door as the men in charge gave them a quick lookover before opening the door. Music came out like a wave, beams of colorful lights flashed high above on the ceiling rafters. The far back held a stage filled with equipment that played music and records, the DJs spun their records on turntables with nearby terminals to control and program the beats.

"I've never heard anything like this before!" Victoria shouted, a finger in each ear.

"What?!" Wayland shouted with a hand to his ear.

The music shocked Chloe out of her daze. "Holy shit! This music is going to give me a hell of a hangover!"

"Say that again?!" Wayland asked her.

"Prolonged exposer to this loud music can damage your hearing later in life. You all shouldn't stay here for too long." Asimov informed, raising his audio a few notches so they could hear.

"That's only if you listen to loud music a lot!" Inez cheered while unzipping the top part of her jumpsuit to cool off.

"Just stay close guys! We don't want to get separated and trampled on!" Joe said as they soon melted in with the many bodies of the club.

"I can't hear you guys!" Wayland shouted once more.

Being a tad intoxicated allowed the wanderers to join in with the dance club more easily. Their guards lost to the freedom of the music, it especially felt like years to Louis and Doug since they truly relaxed. The safety of the town and Vault they came from had that affect, yet Louis never took his eyes off Radcliffe. Doug and Chloe stayed close to Wayland, who had a small and intrigued crowd watching him dance. Asimov and Cavall stayed back near some tables, his visor focused on Inez who was dancing with Joe at the time.

Louis and Victoria ended up dancing close to each other, the redhead finally seemed at ease. She moved to the beats as the strobe lights made her hair look on fire when the red lights flashed. It made Louis happy to see her having fun, the past in the back of her mind for the time being. But then he noticed Radcliffe was nowhere to be seen, and that made him put his attention back on the talk he planned.

He leaned forward to get close to Victoria's ear and shouted. "Where's Radcliffe?!"

"I think he just went to the bar over there!" she shouted back and pointed in the direction.

Louis looked and sure enough saw him, Radcliffe was shouting out some drink orders and it only continued to cement what he suspected. He thanked Victoria and pushed through the crowd, he needed to get them away from prying eyes. Radcliffe was about to finish his drink orders until a hand from behind tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around fast, the music of the dance club made it impossible to hear anything else. And even more so, it surprised him to see Louis with a strange look.

"Is there anywhere quiet we can go?! I want to clear my head!" Louis asked him loudly.

Radcliffe made a quizzical frown, something about his face seemed off. "Uh, yeah, there's a stairwell that leads to the top of this factory! Great view!"

Louis followed him from behind, the crowd slowed them down a little until they reached a door with a busted exit sign above. The music became muffled thumps against the walls once more as they started ascending the winding stairs. As they reached the first landing the sounds of heavy moaning reached their ears from below, two people had left the dance club to give in to their basic desires. They saw more people every few flights, heavily making out without even stopping as they passed. There was even a man passed out on the middle of the stairs, they simply walked over him and continued. They reached the top flight as Radcliffe pushed the door open and let Louis go out first.

The cool night air hit them, drying the sweat from their exposed skin with only the moon lighting the roof. Louis walked out into the opening, the colorful glow from the lights all around the outside of Paradise's Raid shined up at the roof edges. Louis took a moment to take in the view, the endless gray sky from before turned pitch black with heavy cloud formations.

"It's quite a view." Louis commented to the endless barren land. "Although there's not much to see."

"You can say that again..." Radcliffe didn't care for the view. Only the inside interested him.

Now that they were alone, Louis could finally confront him. Reaching into his pocket, he felt the pill and held it between his fingers. He gave the distance one more look before turning around to him.

"Tell me something, this entire place has a lot of themes. By any chance would there be bars on top as well?"

Radcliffe scratched the back of his head, a strange feeling prickling at the back. He closed the door and walked up close, standing only a few feet from him. "Um, there's a few that I know of. Like the Moonlight Lounge, it's an open bar. But I think it's on another factory roof."

"Oh, I just figured you would want to offer me a drink." the look in Louis' eyes harden. "Like you've been doing all night."

The prickling started to go down his spine. "Is...that a problem? I mean, drinking's part of the fun here."

"And is adding strange things part of the fun?" he held his hand up and revealed the pill between his fingers. "Like this?! A sleeping pill that can knock you out in no time?"

Radcliffe felt like a kid caught with hand in the cookie jar, or standing over a murdered body covered in blood. "Where did you-"

"Find it? It fell out of your pocket when you were knocked down." Louis knew he would ask that. "I looked it up in a medical book at the market. It's prewar, you can thank the identification print on it. And it's funny because as I thought before, you don't look like someone who has a hard time sleeping. And you have been a little too insistent on getting drinks."

Radcliffe felt his plans crumble away, and it was before he could even think of a new one. There was no excuse he could say or lie to throw out.

"Tell me the truth! Tell me this is a big misunderstanding. Tell me that I'm wrong right now and we'll forget this ugly business and go back to having fun." Louis demanded him to answer, really hoping he's wrong.

But Radcliffe said nothing, his eyes looked down as if in shame. He knew there would be no point in trying.

"You can't even answer that." Louis tossed the pill, silence was his answer. The pill skittered to a stop at Radcliffe's feet. "I don't know why you would do this, although I assume it involves robbing us. I suppose that should be expected in a place like this. Don't bother me and my friends again."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and headed straight for the door to the flight of stairs. But he didn't get halfway as the cock of a gun hammer made him stop. Louis slowly turned to see Radcliffe's Hardballer aimed at him, he sighed disappointingly. This was also something he expected.

"I'm in debt..." was all he whispered.

Louis barely heard his vocie. "I'm sorry?"

"I said I'm in debt! Seventy thousand caps! I owe seventy thousand to a guy named Seymour!" Radcliffe said much louder. "He's one of the mole-rat fuckers that run this place! Paradise's Raid is built on people crushed by debt. That's why I tried to drug you!"

"So you can steal our stuff to sell it? Are you that desperate?"

"No! Just your Pip-Boy! I've tried to knock you out at first. A Pip-Boy can bring in twenty to thirty thousand caps to the right buyer. I know it's not all of my debt, but it would have at least take a big chunk out of it!" Radcliffe's gun hanged limply for a moment.

"And is this how you want to live the rest of your life?" Louis questioned, not making any sudden moves. "Drinking, screwing, and running from debt? Don't you have anything better in mind than this place? Or are you really going to kill me over this? You'll only end up paying for it."

"The Itinerary people don't care about what the reason is as long as they get paid!" the Hardballer shook a little in his grip. "This isn't personal. I really did have fun for what it's worth."

Louis couldn't help but snicker to that. "Do you usually end fun times with a gun pointed at someone?"

"Not usually..." he said to himself. "Now stop wasting time and hand it over! I don't want to shoot you if I don't have to! I'll take it and you guys won't find me! And don't bother going to the higher ups for help. You have to pay for theft protection, and it's obviously too late for that.

Louis steeled himself, no matter what he wasn't going to have his Pip-Boy taken away again like when he and Doug met Joe. "No. I won't give it. I'm the only one that can use it."

"I'm not kidding! Give it to me now before your buddies are one man short!" Radcliffe held the grip of the gun, his arm started becoming weak for some reason.

"I said no!" Louis raised his left arm up. "You're gonna have to shoot me for it! Gun me down like a common thug. But know this, even if you get out of debt it will only be a matter of time before it happens again. If this place is really bad deep down, then they will never stop squeezing you for every cap. You can do better than this and not live day by day, you can stand up for something and not be such a selfish man."

"That kind of shit will only get you killed, Vault boy!" Radcliffe had enough of his idealistic thoughts. "And it's going to happen soon if you don't hand the Pip-Boy over! You should have just stayed where you belong."

"And do you belong here? Or are you just trying to run from something?" Louis saw his expression, clearly hitting another nerve. "No matter how far you run, eventually it will catch up. But if this place is all you want, then go ahead and shoot..."

Radcliffe took a step forward, steadying his arms and looked down the iron sights. All he had to do was pull, his finger twitching on the trigger. Louis' words cut deep, bringing up things he didn't want to deal with. One of the many benefits of Paradise's Raid, people can come to numb themselves of their problems. Yet the words never stopped ringing in his ears, is this really what he's been reduced to? Holding up someone for an item that wouldn't get him out of debt right away? Before he knew it his arms hanged down, the gun loose in his grip. He just couldn't do it, he had killed a number of times before, yet this method in cold blood didn't sit well.

Louis turned on his heel and headed for the door, in case Radcliffe changed his mind. But the Raider only turned his head upward to the moon, lost in thought. His hand grabbed the door latch and opened it up but paused before going down.

"You know, if you had just told me about this debt, I would have tried to find a way to help you."

Radcliffe turned his head away and huffed. "And why would you do that?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. That's always been my belief, nothing will get better if no one at least tries." Louis answered, not the first time he had been asked that.

Radcliffe scoffed again. "What's the point? It's a waste of time."

"I figured that would be your answer. Take care, Radcliffe. I'm sure it's what you're good at." he then closed the door, its heavy bang made Radcliffe jolt a little from surprise.

It was all over before he even knew it. His debt seemed high as the moon at this point, and now he stood with nothing to show for all his scheming and planning. He walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at the people he could see, pitying how lucky they were to not know the awful things that kept Paradise's Raid running.