A bustling market lined the street, 100 feet long, 20 feet wide. Vendor stalls stood at both sides, and islands of merchandise with throngs of people chattering about floated in the middle. The sea was beautiful, but the smell made Jonathan sick. Humans and their damned economy of bottlecaps and accessories. Pitiful.
"What if I told you, you could have it at only half the price?" A merchant was tempting Arianna with a shoddy-looking pistol. She seemed captivated with it. Typical Ari. Here it comes...
"What if I told you, good sir," She dazzled him with a smile, "that I could get that gun off of any old raider out here, and that you're a swindler, and I will kill you if you ever speak to me again?" She giggled and trounced down the street, trying to spot the right booth. The previous vendor looked offended, probably not understanding the full power behind the 5'4" ball of energy. Jonathan rolled his dark eyes and shuffled forward behind her. Dylon clung to his back, having accepted by now that if he didn't, he would be crushed by the sea of people otherwise. Finally she squealed and almost danced to – no, there it was, a little jig. She literally danced up to a shabby booth blocking a doorway. In this booth sat an old man. Probably in his fifties or so. He smiled, a toothless smile. Too many chems would do that to ya.
"Got it, Phoenix?" The man asked her as she dug through her messenger bag.
"Yes, yes, YES!" She pulled the green copper coil and held it out to the man. He took it gingerly and inspected it.
"Fair condition...didn't get it from that old military outpost did you? Heard all the stuff in there is fake. A trap set up to surprise pretty girls like yourself." He moaned out the words like his throat was too dry to speak up. Regardless, he continued, "Went where I told you?"
"Yissiree! Fenrir got a little tied up in the job, but we got it down eventually." She beamed at him and held out her hand. "Now, the key, please~!" She shivered, excited.
"Ah-ah-ah...you know the rules. All the pieces of payment before collection of product-"
"-Or you don't get to have the full experience." Dylon piped up from over Jonathan's hulking shoulder. "It's alright Gust, we got it." He detached himself from the super mutant and slunk to the front of the pack. The girl and mutant body-blocked the crowd from sweeping the lanky boy into the masses with them. He slid up the front of his leather armor to reveal a glint of metal. "Kind of a lack of assaultrons around here, but since I already knew what goes on their boards...I hand-made one." He slid a complex-looking sheet of metal with little decorative tabs, towers, and otherwise electronic doo-hickeys into the wooden counter for the man to inspect.
"Hm...well...you did a fine job...alright. I can only make one because of the lack of materials, but your...order will be ready by tomorrow at sundown." He smiled and pressed a button. A turret on the rooftop above him sounded out as it came to life. Its motors ran loudly as it turned back and forth. "See you tomorrow, Phoenix, Fenrir, Dragor." He nodded to each in turn and disappeared into the darkness of his building.
Nick inspected each detail carefully, as he always did. Bodies, everywhere. No doubt, it had been a massacre. His inner fan whirred quietly, speeding up occasionally as a new thought occurred with each observation. His hand hovered over a track mark.
"Assaultron...no, wrong shape. Boot? Looks like..." Whir whir "...size ten and a half. Blood. Not from the shoe. From something else...tracks are coming from there..." Whir whir whirrrr "...came from that collapsed building. The blood is from those two bodies. Someone was in a hurry." He stood and followed the clues.
His foot sloshed as it connected with a pool of blood. Disgusting, but he couldn't think of that now. Whirrrrr "So it was an assaultron?" He had found the body of the first victim. Well, he assumed first. It was sitting in K-L-EO's shop, no K-L-EO to be found, head fried off like an ant under a magnifying glass. Actually, that was quantifiably impossible, but still. The metaphor stands.
The whirring sped up suddenly. Had K-L-EO done all this? No, she loved this town, far more than anyone would know. She loved this town and her new life the way he, himself, loved his detective work. She technically *could* have done this, but she had no motive. Hm...
Unless...
Something must have happened with her circuits. He searched harder. Staring at each piece of rubble, inspecting it closely. It was a good process, tedious, which turned up something interesting. Among the dead bodies were everyone *except* Daisy and Hancock. And among a taller pile of rubble was a long indentation as though something heavy had rolled down the hill. At the top was a half-covered red wire. A connector wire. If removed, an assaultron automatically enters its 'mechanic repair' sleep. This was a unique way to preserve the assaultron's delicate information in its drive while it waited for repairs to its (presumably) damaged body. It would disconnect automatically if it wasn't totally destroyed in a fight.
However, this one was torn off. The wire was stripped at both ends. It was an ugly sight for the robotic sore eyes. He winced, thinking of his own delicate mechanics.
He figured after he had reviewed the case opening with Ellie, she might go straight to Piper. She was always looking out for the girl like that. Probably reminded Ellie of her late sister, no doubt. Might as well head straight for the writer's abode with the gory details. He was sure she would love it, even if he wasn't enjoying it himself.
It was eery, this case.
Piper scribbled furiously. After catching up with Ellie about all the late happenings – who's wearing what, the newest hairstyles from the upper stands, Myrna accusing old Cronin of being a synth – she finally got down the business. Ellie didn't have much for Piper to work with.
"-so the guard lifted his sniper rifle and aimed, trying to get a better view. Said he's never seen anything so ominous in his life."
"That's a spook, if I ever heard one...hey, Elles, you think the Institute finally targeted Goodneighbor or what? Sounds like somethin' big went down...like...Institute big..." She trailed off, jotting down a few short words before looking back up at the brunette.
"No, doesn't seem likely. If the Institute wanted to use an assaultron's laser to destroy something, I assume they would target us." Piper gulped. She was thankful Nat wasn't awake to hear that. The girl had fallen asleep, head soundly nestled in Ellie's lap. This was the only innocent moment as the air thickened between them. Her stomach dropped at the thought of a deadly robot attacking the city. A robot possibly more deadly than a synth, anyway. "Besides, don't you have that theory that the mayor's balls-deep in Institute business?"
Piper shrugged. "Yeah...just doesn't sit right with me..."
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, lost on morbid thought. Finally, Ellie made a move to collect Nat. Piper set down her notepad and helped lift the ten year old girl. Together, they deposited her onto her bed and returned to the living room. Piper stretched and smiled weakly. "Hey, can I get ya somethin'? I didn't even offer when you came in."
Ellie rested her arm on the back of the couch and relaxed. "Ah, no, thank you. I think I've taken enough of your time, and hospitality. I oughta head back to the agency now. Thank you for your time." She rose to leave.
"N-no, thank you!" Piper grinned and rushed to the door. "You've been a huge help! Again, thank you. Just keep me updated, okay?" Ellie nodded, adding a short note that she would return with some parts for that generator soon. Ellie walked somberly back to the small studio her and Valentine shared as Piper, herself, went over the details in her mind.
Something about this wasn't right. It was very, very wrong.
"Hehehe...haha...ahahahahahaha!" Arianna laughed loudly as a rifle barrel was shoved into her barely clad chest.
"Oh, baby, yer gunna look real nice sittin' purty underneath me."A thick southern drawl dripped from the raider's lips as he threatened her. She merely grinned back, a dangerous look in her eyes that he didn't catch. His mistake, she decided.
She had gone into the camp alone. She was all the three had needed to clear it. She immediately surrendered. Truly, she enjoyed being submissive when it came to men. Kinda turned her on. Good fantasy fuel. However, Jonathan noted that they needed to hurry with this one, since Dylon was getting kinda hungry and tired. Being the most delicate and scrawny - not to mention youngest - of the three, the two elders were undeniably protective of him. She could masturbate to the thought of knifing this raider up the ass later.
"Oh, no, p-please don't hurt me!" She pleaded sarcastically, wiggling her hips. He had removed her shirt, leaving her chest uncovered save for a lacy bra. Very nice touch, she had decided when she found it at an old department store. Didn't find too many A-to-C cup pushup bras these days. She needed all the help she could get as far as her looks go these days. She was just glad they hadn't removed her pants, yet. That always earned a-
Well shit, there it was. The surprised yelp. The raider unzipped her pants and shirked them down, reaching for his own when he noticed the wires and lights adorning her left thigh. She still needed to buy more flesh.
"Y-y-yer a fuckin' synth?!" He aimed his rifle at her face. This was her cue, it seemed. She rolled and wiggled up since he had freed her legs when attempting to rape her.
"Gen-3 and proud, love!" She grinned and made quick work of untying her hands from behind her back, rolling and wiggling as the foolish raider attempted to shoot her. Her pants were next. She yanked them up, zipping them back, buttoning the clasp, and finally rolling toward him. He screamed a girlish scream, which was cut short when she punched him in the nose. It, naturally, killed him on impact. Her previous life had reminded her that when hit with enough force at the right angle, the cartilage in the nose would shoot upward into someone's brain. It worked.
The raider's eyes rolled into the back of his skull and he slumped forward, slamming face-first into the wooden floor. She giggled and danced a jig out of the room. In her previous life, she had always loved dancing. This was a personality trait that stuck with her this time around. She smiled and made quick work of literally ripping out the throats of every raider in the camp.
"Should have just broken their necks. Now we have to dump the bodies before bloatflies emerge to pick off the corpses." Jonathan emerged from the shadows, Dylon safely in front so the giant could watch him carefully.
"Eh...alright, ya got a point..." The synth frowned and scratched under her bra on the side. "Kinda wish this flesh had no sensors sometimes. I could smell that guy's breath and UGH IT WAS GROSS. Plus, without a shirt on, this wind is spoopy and chilly."
"Don't use pre-war meme terms. I fucking hate those."
"You fucking hate everything. Ya got an extra shirt? Mine got torn."
"Shouldn't have wasted your time and gotten your shirt ripped." A deathly glare was shared between them as neither wanted to back down. They heard faint buzzing and a quiet whine from the young ghoul, and finally sighed. The showdown would have to wait, the corpses needed tending to right then and there.