2. Atomic Cocktail
You push a button, turn a dial
Your work is done for miles and miles
When it hits-it's bound to shake 'cause it feels just like an earthquake
Sweat rolled down her face, tracking rivulets in the dust and grim. She paused, lifting an arm to wipe her forehead off before returning to her task Butch's jacket lay discarded at her side, next to a toolbox, and she'd stripped the Vault suit to the waist, exposing her formerly pristine white tank top and her formerly nearly as white shoulders. The temperature was way, way too hot to leave her Vault suit up all the way during the day and it turned out that the Simu-Sun lights had done literally nothing other than let them see. Within hours of leaving the Vault, her exposed skin had turned almost as red as her hair and even days later, her too red, too tight skin itched and she could have killed for a cold shower. Forget hot water, all she wanted was actual cold water. The lukewarm, slightly irradiated water Moira had was okay but she still itched. She'd never been this unclean in her life and it was just unlucky that her work forced her to be in the sun when she'd far prefer to be in the shade and sheltered from the sun.
Still, she guessed that she'd be finished with the pipeline leaks before the sun went down, barring any unforeseen traumas that could come up. She paused again to readjust the salty cap on her head. She might be willing to traipse around in the too blue Vault suit, but after being gawked at last night, the hat was staying on. Besides, it shielded her face from the sun as she worked.
"B!" She looked up, eyes squinting against the light. Little Maggie bounded up, childish enthusiasm and energy on display. Her heart gave a pang which was quickly shoved back. With a glance down to make sure that the pipe wouldn't produce a fountain of water in the next few minutes and ruin all of her work, she set the tools down and wiped her hands on a rag she preferred not to think about.
"What can I do for you?"
"Mr. Gob said there was a new man in the saloon and that you might wanna talk to him."
That put a frown on her face. "Why on earth would Gob care who I do or don't meet?"
Maggie leaned in close. "Mr. Gob thinks he's here about the bomb but doesn't think it'll look too good if he goes and talks to him. On account of his bein', ya know."
Startled, B swiveled to look at the atom bomb sitting there rather innocently in the pool of radioactive water she'd bathed in for Moira yesterday. She liked Megaton for the most part and a stranger that Gob didn't like and was paying a little too close attention to the bomb? She frowned at the sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. That bomb going off, even if it didn't kill her or ghoulify her, would destroy the work she'd done trying to keep the water purifier from going kaput and mean she'd gotten a sunburn for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
"Did Gob mention anything else about him?"
"Yeah, he said that he'd been talkin' to Miss Nova for a couple of hours today. Asking about you."
B frowned at that. "How'd you find out then, if they were in the Saloon?"
"Went to ask Billy if I could have some caps for a soda at the Brass Lantern." The girl patted her pocket where B assumed the caps were.
She forced a smile on her face, fished out a couple more from her own pocket, and handed them to the girl. "Thanks. I'll pass some on to Gob when I see him next."
Maggie beamed at her. "I'm glad Billy let me talk to you 'cause you're a real nice lady."
The fond smile on B's face faded as the girl scampered off, probably to go play with Simms' kid. She huffed out a sigh, readjusted the cap on her head again, and set back to work. Pipes first and hopefully she'd figure out what to do about this man in the meantime.
The sun was just sinking below the horizon when she finished and her thumb still throbbed from where she'd hit it with a hammer. If she was lucky, it would just bruise. If she wasn't, she'd lose her nail and spend the next few days trying to keep her thumb nail bed clean. Just outside the saloon, she stopped, took a deep breath, and pulled her baseball cap off her head. She stuck it in the back pocket of her Vault suit. Carefully, she took out her bun. She tipped her head back and shook out the mane of flame bright hair that had attracted so much attention before. Moira had red hair too, but the very strange merchant's hair was darker, not nearly as healthy, and not nearly as red to start with. Just another way to set B apart.
B grimaced as she pulled her hair back up again, in a ponytail this time. Her natural curls, augmented by the fact that she'd had a hair in a bun all day and been sweaty, bounced behind her and softened her face. Even still, she hated her hair, always had. In the Vault it had reminded her father of her dead mother and gave the Tunnel Snakes and Butch an endless source of teasing. Out here? Every eye was always pulled to her and right now, she needed that even though it scared the living daylights out of her. On the other hand, her skin was nearly as red as her hair and it just couldn't be attractive. Though...she wasn't sure if she could go through with what she had come in to do.
She strode in, eyes flicking around. She saw the newcomer first and forced her eyes away. Nova leaned against a wall near the door, idly smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, Nova," she greeted her.
"Hey, B." There was fear in the older woman's eyes and that was not something she was accustomed to seeing. She'd always been protective of her friends and that more than anything had led to the various trips to the infirmary between her, Butch and Wally over the years. Seeing the fear on her face immediately made her want to approach this unknown man aggressively, probably with a punch. But that wouldn't solve the problem and would probably get her kicked out. She wouldn't survive on her own out in the wasteland. She sighed, glancing at the corner where the man sat. Yeah. That was decided. She had to.
"Could you hold this for a moment?" She handed her Butch's jacket even as she was loathe to give it over. But she knew she had to show as much skin as possible without being obvious if this was going to work, even if it was red and hurt. Everything in her wanted to recoil and bolt but she had to know, had to try to keep the people who had been kind to her safe. No matter what she'd gone through, she'd never really been able to kill that instinct.
"How come?" Nova asked though she took it and folded it over her arm.
"I'm going to convince the new guy that Megaton is beneath his interest."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Nora dropped her voice, eyes flicking to the stranger. "There's something off about him."
"Which is why he needs to leave. Don't worry. If he tries anything, I can handle it." She pulled out a switchblade, not unlike the one Butch carried, and flipped it around her fingers, needing to do something with her hands.
"Be careful."
B flashed her a grin that felt as fake as it probably looked. "Aren't I always?"
"I've known you for two days and in one of them, you sat in a pool of radioactive water. What does that tell you?"
"Alright, bad example. Wish me luck?"
"You look absolutely fuckable. Even with your skin red as a tato."
B tossed her head back with an actual laugh, the sentiment behind the language clear. She turned and faced the newcomer for the first time, slipping the switchblade back into her pocket. Suit, sunglasses, hat, thin lines around his mouth. Even though she couldn't see his eyes, she knew that he was watching her.
Wordlessly, praying that this worked, she sat in the chair across from him, plucked the open beer from in front of him, and placed it at her lips. She tilted it back, exposing the slender column of her throat. It was warm and disgusting and burned despite her previous experience with Butch's scotch so she took a much smaller swig than she appeared to, before gently setting it back down, hearing the bottle chink against wood.
"Most people wouldn't take an unknown man's beer. I see that you're not from around here. Am I mistaken?" His voice rumbled at her. The rough edges in it told her that he was older than she first thought. That didn't make her feel much better. Allan Mack and Alphonse Almodovar had both made her life hell.
"I'm not most people."
His head tipped to the side just slightly. "That didn't answer my question."
She leaned forward, an eyebrow arched. "And I don't even know your name."
His sunglasses caught the light in a lens flare as he settled back in his chair. She sensed more than saw him spread his legs under the table. "Burke."
Okay. Receptive. She wanted to throw up but unfortunately she was on a mission. "Not from around here, no."
His mouth curved in a slight smile. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
That word from his lips threatened a disgusted shiver down her spine but she held her smirk. "B." He lifted a curious eyebrow at her response.
"Is that short for something?"
"Just B."
"Well, since you're not from around here, I might have a proposition for you."
Finally. "I'm listening."
"I'm sure you know about the bomb in the center of town."
"You'd have to be blind not to see it," she replied smoothly, feeling her heart pound.
"Quite. Well, Megaton is rather an eyesore and it wouldn't be missed if that bomb were to go off."
B's nervous tapping against her knee, hidden by the table, stilled. Quickly, her mind ran through implications and scenarios. Before she could second guess herself, she leaned her elbows on the table, steepling her fingers beneath her chin. No smile. There was just the faintest grate to her voice. "I don't know. I might miss it."
"What could a charming, young woman want with this dump, especially if she isn't from here herself?"
"I needed a home after I lost my old one. The people here have been good to me." Now, she brought to mind Susie's ridiculous flirting with Butch. She held back a shiver of disgust up her spine. She would never be able to be Susie, or Christine or even Amata. When she'd finally gotten the courage to start flirting, she'd quickly lost the taste for it. But maybe… She traced the mouth of the beer bottle with a finger, eyes occasionally flicking up to meet his sunglasses. "You wouldn't want to destroy my home, would you?" She hoped he'd read the husk and tremor to her voice as coyness, attraction. Not fear. If this man sensed her fear, he would be all over her and even now she wasn't sure if she could handle it.
She held her breath, waiting, watching. "Well, I-I mean- Of course not. I must admit, I've never met a woman quite like you before." Despite the way her heart was thrumming in her chest like a generator, she couldn't hold a smile all the way off her face but only a smile curled the corners of her lips. His head tipped to the side just a little again and she got the distinct impression of a bird of prey she'd read about in the Vault. Eagle? No, wait. Vulture. Yep, that pretty much described Burke. "Hmm, I suppose this changes everything. I'm not sure what I'll tell Tenpenny." He smiled at her and she supposed it was supposed to be seductive but B was too busy fighting the urge to bolt to be able to respond to it anymore than she already was. "I'll think of something. You wait here, my dear. I have some important business to attend to. But you won't be waiting long. I'll send for you soon."
She held back a shiver when Burke stood and caressed her jawline. Then he strode out, tipping his hat to Nova as he did.
B sat there for a moment, recognizing just how much adrenaline she had pumping through her veins. That would have made her hands shake regardless but, well, she couldn't believe that she'd just done that. She'd just flirted, sort of, and she hadn't combusted or dropped dead of a heart attack. She lifted her left hand and watched the violent tremor for a moment before closing that hand in a fist. She did it. Burke would be moving on. She didn't realize exactly when she had started to think of Megaton as her home but it didn't really matter. Still. Just because Burke was gone didn't mean that someone else wouldn't come eventually and she wasn't always in town. She'd started going on tentative scavving missions, always staying close to Megaton's vicinity. Or worse, what if the next one wasn't so easily (hah...) swayed?
B dropped her head onto the table and heaved out a heavy sigh. She heard footsteps approach her and turned her head to the side just enough to be able to see who it was.
"What was all that about?" Nova asked after glancing to make sure that Moriarty wasn't around to see her not working.
"He wanted something I wasn't willing to do." B stood and held her hand out for Butch's jacket, which she pressed to her chest and clung to like a lifeline when it was back in her grasp. "If you'll excuse me, I've got some business with a thing."
AN: Definitely didn't remember today was Friday. For shame, me, since tomorrow is my mother's birthday.
I'm actually kind of liking this chapter. And B is feeling a bit more human, if a bit twitchy. She has reason to be but still.
As always, let me know what y'all're thinking. Please and thank you.
Lyrics and chapter title from "Atomic Cocktail" by Slim Gaillard. It's pretty fantastic. Y'all should take a listen.