I dropped the bounty off with Randall before stopping off at Mojave Outpost to sleep. Jackson had been kind enough to let me stay in the barracks. Raul met me not too long after I woke up, and we went hunting for the next bounty. In reality, I could've hit the bounty before he showed up. The bounty Randall had given me was literally right down the road from where he'd set up shop. It almost made me wonder if he wasn't just paying us to get rid of his rowdier neighbors.

The bounty was for a man by the name of Cullen. Didn't know much about him, or where he'd come from, only that he'd somehow set himself up as the leader of the Jackal raider camp working out of the Nevada Highway Patrol Station just outside Primm. Rather than let the problem fester and blow up into another Fiend fiasco, we were tasked with getting rid of him. Things were going surprisingly good too. Cullen had earned himself a reputation for being a smooth talker, which was in part how he'd managed to get into the position he was. I'd actually had hopes of just getting him to turn himself in.

Then he tried taking a swipe at me midsentence.

Unfortunately for him, Raul was faster than both Cullen and myself. He might disparage himself for being old, but there's a reason Raul's lived this long, and it isn't just for his mechanic work. He put one between Cullen's eyes before the man'd even pulled his axe around to hit me, making Cullen a shining example of what the belief of melee weapons in gunfights buys you.

It frustrated me, but I was starting to get numb to the fact that this kept happening. I'd have rather taken him in alive, but I wasn't going to hold it against Raul for being quick on the draw. Besides, Cullen should've been wearing a helmet. The man was already wearing Metal Armor, he should've had the brains to realize getting the matching headpiece was a good idea. At least he had the fore thought to bring something to help remove his finger.

We collected the bit of flesh and bone, and were about to make the short walk back to Randall. The moment we stepped outside though, we met with the usual wasteland greeting.

I.E. a loaded shotgun pointed in our general direction.

Waiting just outside the Highway Patrol station was a man clad in leather armor, holding a lever action shotgun. He was coated in dirt and dust, and had the same level of hygiene you'd find from your typical roving trader. The only part that really caught me off guard about his appearance were his eyebrows. They arched up into points at the corners, giving him a look of perpetual surprise.

"Collecting another one of my bounties, eh?" The man asked "You're taking a bite out of my income, kid. I want my ends, right now, or it's your ass."

Both me and Raul shared a look before turning back to the new comer.

"Fork it over, right now." The man growled "1000-"

"I'm sorry, Who the fuck're you supposed to be?" I asked.

The man blinked, then grit his teeth and began glaring at me. "Who the fuck am I? Who thefuck am I?"

"That's what I asked, fuck-wit. You got mud in your ears?"

"I'm the Coyote, asshole." The man growled "I'm the guy whose pay you've been stealing for the past few weeks. I want it back. Now."

"… I've never heard of you. Nor do I have the patience for your Brahmin shit. So let me ask you a question: How much you think your head's worth?"

The 'Coyote' deepened his scowl and was probably going to shoot me. Of course, he didn't strike me as someone who though too far ahead.

"Only reason I'm asking is because, if you're actually lucky and do kill me for a few caps, yours is gonna be the next one people are gunning for."

The 'Coyote' didn't take his gun off me, but I saw his gaze shift slightly. Something told me he hadn't thought that far ahead. Made sense, he wasn't striking me as someone who made a living using their head.

"Of course, that's assuming bounty hunters are willing to kill each other for money… So, what's it gonna be?" I asked "You gonna try and loot my corpse for the dozen caps I've got in my pocket, or are you gonna piss off before I stop being so nice?"

The 'Coyote' glared at me and bared his teeth in a snarl. Rather than do the wastelander thing and shoot though, his gaze just tracked slowly back and forth between me and Raul. I could almost see the dots connecting in his head.

"… Luck's gonna run out eventually." The 'Coyote' spat.

Without another word, he put his shotgun away and walked out of firing distance. Never taking his eyes off of us until he was outside the point either of us could make a clean shot.

"... Tootin' your horn a bit loud, aren't you boss?" Raul asked.

"You think I couldn't have taken him?" I asked, turning to look at Raul.

"No, no, of course not." Raul smirked "I'm just thinking you'd have gotten a mouth full of shot before I could draw. These hands ain't as fast as they used to be."

Looking at Raul, I noticed his hand was indeed resting on his holster.

"… Feh, probably." I said, turning and beginning to walk back to Randall's "-Of course, you'd be next on the hit parade, can't have witnesses."

"Witness what boss? These old eyes can't see a damn thing."

"Your hearing seems just fine."

"… What?"

"I said your hearing's…"

I stopped and looked back at Raul. He was giving me an ear to ear grin.

"… What?" He repeated.

"… Friggin' wiseass." I chuckled "Fine, I walked into that one, can we go?"

"Sure thing boss, just don't ask me to lead."

…

Raul decided to wait outside when we got back to Randall's. Though I typically didn't have any problems going places with him, Raul was aware a lot of people didn't take kindly to ghouls. Though I was pretty sure Randall wouldn't have a problem with him, I wasn't going to argue with Raul.

I had to question whether or not Randall ever sleeps, or even just gets up to stretch. When I'd first met him, he was sitting at his desk, typing. When I'd seen him the night before, he'd been sitting at his desk, typing. Now, as I walked in again to deliver Cullen's finger, he was still there, typing. One had to wonder how cramped his legs must get from staying like that.

"Welcome back, how was the hunt?" Randall asked, looking up from his typewriter.

"About the same as ever. Thought I was going to actually take him alive this time."

"Did you?"

I walked over and put Cullen's severed finger on Randall's desk. "Take a wild guess."

"I keep tellin' you not to waste your time."

"Hey, you said I could approach the bounties how I wanted, and I am. Besides, it's not like I'm running blindly into them. I've got back-up with me most of the time."

"Speakin' of, where's that lady friend of yours? She wasn't with you the last time you popped in either."

"Had to split." I answered "Got jumped while hunting Eileen and found a note saying we were being watched. Mentioned Cass and me by name."

"Shit." Randall intoned.

"Yeah, we figured splitting up for now was a good idea. Bad enough we gotta deal with trying to take bounties in alive without that too."

"The hell're you doin' still tryin' to take 'em in alive?" Randall asked, almost sounding insulted "I told you, you're better off just killin' 'em."

"And I told you I was gonna try anyway." I shrugged "Dangerous as it's been, I still feel like trying."

"Well then, I advise you get to reconsiderin'. It's only a matter of time 'till someone takes advantage of that an' you wind up dead. I've got it as policy for a reason."

"C'mon Steve-" I intoned "You can't tell me you've killed every bounty you've brought in."

"I ain't sayin' I did. But you gotta know the difference between the ones you can, an' the ones you can't. I've seen my share of dangerous bounties, an' only got through because I knew what was or wasn't above my pay-grade."

"Uh-huh. So you're telling me you always knew when you could do the job?"

"Hell no, there were plenty of times I bit off more than I could chew. But most of the time I got the read right before goin' in. An' I knew better to try and take 'em all in alive. I think the last time I went in blind like that was when I was huntin' for Doc Friday."

"Who?"

Randall gave me a quizzical look "… Shit, you don't know Doc Friday?"

"Not really, honestly I don't half the bounties you have me chasing, much less ones you've never told me about."

Randall nodded "Yeah, well, Friday was probably the last bounty I went blind into, and easily one of the most dangerous targets I've pursued regardless of that."

"How's that?"

Randall chuckled "It's a bit of a story. Back when I was chasin' bounties on my own, I came across one lookin' to find this 'zombie fucker', who'd been responsible for maiming a man."

"Zombie fucker?"

"Friday was, and I believe still is, a ghoul. We don't take kindly to them back east, and I can't stand the fuckin' smell of 'em either."

That caught me by surprise. For as even keeled as Randall seemed, I never would've pegged him for being a bigot. Guess it was a good thing Raul'd stayed outside after all.

"Anyway." Randall continued "The bounty was to take him down, and they were offerin' a lot of caps to do it. I didn't need much more incentive to take the shot.

"Except it didn't work out that way."

"'Course not, otherwise I'd probably be dead right now." Randall chuckled "Thing was, the person who'd put the bounty out for Friday was an actor. The reason for it was because the good doctor had gone and shot him in the testicles."

"Oof."

"Yep, oof. Anyway, while I'm not partial to ghouls, I'm even less so towards actors. Can't trust'em worth shit. So R\rather than go and try to immediately part Doc Friday from the rest of the world, I approached him and tried to settle thing amicably. Come to find out, Friday'd only shot the actor after he'd taken to insulting Doc Friday's lady Friend. A ghoul by the name of No-Face Kate."

I nodded, I could understand.

"After that, me and Friday took to talking. He was a charmin' fella to be sure, and I couldn't rightly find it in me to try and take him down. So we settled on a gentleman's wager: play a few hands of cards to decide what happened. I win, the doctor comes with me. He wins, I'd let him walk free."

"Mighty generous." I nodded "How'd it go?"

"Got cleaned out, that's how." Randall chuckled again "I played fair, and I'm willing to assume Friday did too. Despite him having reason not to."

"… I'm thinkin' generous wasn't the right word now."

"Either way, we chat a while longer, then go our separate ways. Not long after, I found out I was right to treat the doctor with respect. His shootin' that actor in the jewels wasn't a fluke, he's one of the surest shots in the wastes. Bein' around since before the war gave him plenty of time to hone his skills. Rumors abound of him killin' scores of legionnaires in seconds. Had I done anything but treat him with respect, he could've easily made ground meat outta me."

"Damn." I nodded, thinking on my own experiences with Legionnaires. That was nothing to sneeze at. "So he's still out there then?"

"Pretty damn sure he is." Randall nodded "Hear rumors from time to time that he and Kate are still around, though I couldn't rightly tell you where. Take my advice though, you ever meet him, show the guy respect. It'll probably save your life."

"Noted." I nodded "Bad enough I've got other bounty hunters gunning for me and mine without throwing someone like that on top of it."

"Say what now?" Randall asked.

"… Shit, forgot to tell you, we were comin' out of Cullen's place when a guy by the name of 'Coyote' tried to hold us up. Said we were biting into his income."

"Tsk, Collins." I heard Randall grumbled "I told that fuckin' moron to let it go, there's plenty of work outside of the high-pay bounties."

"Yeah, well he seemed to get the message when I told him to fuck off. Had Raul backin' me too, just in case things took a turn."

"Who's Raul?"

"… another friend of mine, outside of Rose- er, Cass. He's hanging around out front."

"He could've come in."

"I think it's better he didn't. Old man's got it hard enough without throwin' bigotry on top of it."

"The hell're you… oh." Randall said, piecing it together.

"Yeah. He took a guess that he wouldn't be welcome in here."

Randall gave an acknowledging nod, but didn't say anything.

"Besides, as long as we've some asshole keeping an eye on us, we'd be better off keeping an eye out for them in turn. Sooner we get rid of 'em the better, I hate being watched."

"Any idea who it is?" Randall asked, clearly willing to change the subject.

"Not much. Biggest lead I've got is the note from the fucker that attacked Cass. Supposedly coming from the desk of a guy calling himself 'Judge Richter'."

If I hadn't been watching Randall already, I probably wouldn't have noticed the small change that went over him. The entire time we'd been talking he'd been typing away at his typewriter, fingers hovering over the keyboard as he sat there in relaxed fashion. At the mention of the note's writer though, I saw a tension come over him. A sudden stillness like you'd find from an animal suddenly having a bright light cast on them.

"… You ok Steve?" I asked.

Randall gave a slow, jerky nod "… You sure the note said it was from 'Judge Richter'?"

"Positive. I got it right here, if you want to read it?"

Randall paused a moment, then nodded again, gesturing his hand. I loaded the note into my pip-boy and showed him, reading it over in short order.

"… Shit." Randall half spat, half hissed.

"What is it?"

"Nothin' good." Randall spat, shaking his head as I came back around the desk. "… I want you to do me a favor, you find any more notes like that, you show'em to me."

"… I walked myself into some shit, didn't I?"

"Serious shit at that." Randall answered, pulling open a drawer on his desk and producing some caps. "Here's for Cullen, you can go lay low for a while if you want. But I won't stop you from workin' either."

"Hmph, like I'm gonna let some mysterious fuck-knuckle stop me from earnin' my keep." I groused "Who's next?"

Randall eyed me for a moment, then shrugged. Figuring I wasn't easily deterred "Well, let's see about that."