Alone in the room they had rented for the night, Grey sat down on the bed and Carmen pulled up a chair in front of him to discuss the young man they had met earlier.
"Who was that guy, Grey?" Carmen asked. "And what did he mean when he said you killed his brother?"
"Exactly what it sounded like," Grey answered. He sighed and rested his chin on entwined fingers. "But, knowing you, you'll want the whole story. His name is Kyle Lofton, and five years ago, my parents's caravan passed through his hometown. Heh, 'hometown.' It was more like a village, less than a dozen people actually living there. Place didn't even have a name. But the folks were nice enough, so we stuck around for a while."
"That is, until a little...incident involving Kyle's older brother, Darren. Classic wasteland story: the boys parents were killed by Raiders, and Darren took it upon himself to raise his baby brother. Somewhere along the way, though, Darren got hooked on chems and just spent most of his days indoors drugging himself into a stupor while Kyle tried to provide for both of them. I only really saw him outside once or twice whenever he needed to restock. One night, after a little romantic stroll with a local girl, I was heading back to my family's tent when I noticed someone standing at the top of a hill overlooking the settlement. I was about to raise an alarm when I realized it was Darren. He was just standing there, staring at the houses and mumbling to himself. Just to be safe, I circled around the hill and climbed up behind him. When I reached the top, he turned around. That's when I saw the knife."
"Somehow, he had gotten his hands on a whole bunch of Psycho and it had driven him...well, psycho. What was left of his brain had convinced him that the rest of the townspeople were Slavers. Or demons. I don't know, he called them something different every two seconds like even he didn't know what he was seeing. But no matter who or what he thought the people were, he was sure of one thing: they were there for Kyle. So, to protect his brother, he was about to murder everyone who wasn't Kyle in their sleep."
"Why didn't he attack you?" Carmen interrupted. "Wouldn't he have thought you were one of the demons that were after Kyle?"
"That's easy. Darren thought I was his brother. That's probably why he looked so surprised when I drew my pistol and told him not to do what he was planning. Then, he started raving about how the monsters had brainwashed me and came at me with the knife. My parents had been teaching me how to shoot since I was eight years old, and he was a malnourished junkie who could barely walk in a straight line. I think you can see where this is going."
"Nobody was really affected by his death. Never really contributed to society, you know? So, when I explained what had happened, they understood that what I did may not have necessarily been right, but it was for the best. Everyone except Kyle, that is. All he saw was the man who'd gunned down the only family he had in cold blood, and nothing anyone said would make him think otherwise. He looked me straight in the eye and swore he'd get revenge someday. The caravan left that morning, and a few years later, I set off on my own and found myself in Megaton. And now, here we are.
Carmen was silent for a few seconds as she processed everything she had just heard. "So, are you really going to do what he asked?" she finally said.
Their minds flashed back an hour to the meeting at the diner.
"Meet me tomorrow morning on the flight deck," Kyle had said. "Then, I'll pay you back for what you did to Darry."
Grey laughed. "I'm not sure 'asked' is the right word for it. But even so, I don't really have much of a choice. He's already spent almost a third of his life chasing me, and I don't think he's in any mood to stop now. Besides, the 'good people' of Rivet City are probably already placing bets. Who am I to disappoint them?"
Carmen shifted uncomfortably. "Even so, isn't there some way you can resolve this peacefully? Or at least nonlethally?"
"You need to understand something, Carmen. Did you see a jail anywhere while we were walking around out there? Or back in Megaton? No. That's because, out here, every offense is punishable by death. So forgive me for assuming that the vengeance-fueled psychopath isn't feeling particularly forgiving."
"Oh." Carmen's gaze fell away.
Grey sighed as he saw how clearly worried she was. "If it means so much to you, I'll see what I can do," he said. "But I'm not making any promises."
His partner looked back up and smiled. "Thanks, Grey."
"Yeah, yeah." Grey slipped off his boots and jacket before settling into the bed. "You better not hog the blanket."
In spite of herself, Carmen chuckled as she got in beside him.
"I'm surprised you actually showed up," Kyle said as he arrived the next morning. "Seeing how you and your caravan just ran away after what you did, and you've obviously been hiding from me all these years."
The ship's flight deck still held plenty of aircraft, but they had long been stripped of any useful parts. A baseball diamond had been set up towards the stern which had initially made Carmen wonder how many balls had been lost in the water.
The two combatants stood facing each other in the center of the diamond while Carmen and the rest of the Rivet City populace looked down on them from a balcony on the bridge tower.
"Nothing to say, Greg?" he continued. "Not gonna beg for mercy? Works for me. I didn't plan on showing any in the first place."
Ever since Grey had arrived half an hour before, he hadn't moved an inch from where he stood or said a single word. If it weren't for the sunglasses hiding his eyes, Carmen would swear he hadn't blinked either.
Chief Harkness walked over with two revolvers and handed one to each duelist as he explained the rules. "The two of you will be facing opposite directions. When I say 'Go,' you'll turn around and fire. Each of you has exactly one bullet, and you won't be getting any more if you miss. So, on the off-chance that you're both terrible shots, you can either call it a draw or beat each other to death with them, I don't care which. Also, if one of you dies and the other doesn't feel like disposing of the body themselves, I'll have one of my men toss it over the side. Any questions? I didn't think so."
Harkness walked away while Kyle and Grey turned away from each other.
"One shot, huh?" Grey said to himself.
Without warning, the boom of a gunshot rang out, causing everyone in the crowd to jump and Kyle to throw himself to the ground. After a second, he stood back up to see Grey pointing his gun out towards the water.
"What the hell did you just do?" he demanded.
Grey loosened his grip and let the gun fall to the deck. "Whoops. Looks like I just missed with my only shot. Guess I lose. Congrats, Kyle, you've finally beaten me. Enjoy the rest of your day."
With that, the Wastelander began strolling towards the tower, leaving Kyle stunned and speechless. Then, the younger man's free hand clenched into a fist and he spun around, tackling Grey and sending them both crashing into the remains of a motorcycle someone had been disassembling.
"You think you can just run away again!" Kyle's face was practically glowing with hatred as he crouched over Grey. "You throw the duel, and everything's okay, is that it? Sorry, but I've spent too much of my life on this just to let you leave so easily."
"Then why didn't you just shoot me and get it over with?" Grey asked defiantly.
"And sink to your level? Mercilessly gunning down someone who didn't even have a chance of fighting back?" The lenses of Grey's shades caught the tears of rage that flowed from Kyle's eyes. "I won't give you the honor of dying by a coward's trick. So fight back just like Darry couldn't! Come on, hit me! HIT ME!"
Grey spent several seconds staring up at the boy who had thrown his life away in the pursuit of a twisted version of what he believed to be justice before quietly replying.
"Fine."
His fingers wrapped around a cold metal handle, and he swung the wrench as hard as he could into the side of Kyle's head, an act that caused the spectators to roar with excitement as they finally got to witness the action they had come to see.
Roaring in pain and with his vision blurred, Kyle tried to find a target for his pistol. In one swift motion; Grey jumped to his feet, caught the hand between his and bent it back with a disturbingly-loud snap, snatched the gun out of limp fingers, and tucked it inside his jacket. He then proceeded to rain down a series of punches and kicks that seemed to connect with every inch of Kyle's body.
At first, this display of fighting prowess caused the crowd to cheer even louder. But as the beating went on, the voices died out in place of quiet awe. Or horror.
Each blow progressively brought the fighters, or rather the fighter and his victim, ever closer to the edge of the ship. Finally, Grey decided it was time to end it. A lightning-fast jab to the throat caused Kyle to gag and his hands to fly to his neck, leaving him open to a brutal punch to the stomach. Kyle doubled over only for his forehead to slam into Grey's knee. The recoil sent the young man stumbling backwards until his foot failed to find solid ground. Right before he careened off the side, Grey reached out and caught him by the shirt.
"What now?" Kyle choked out as one of his eyes began swelling shut and blood dripped out of his nose. "Some speech about how much I still have to live for and how I should turn my life around?"
"No." The other man said coldly. "I just want to be sure."
And with that, Grey pulled the revolver from his jacket and fired its single bullet right between Kyle's eyes. He released his hold and watched as the lifeless body crashed into the irradiated river far below.
The citizens of Rivet City stood speechless for a moment before slowly making their way back inside the ship, all previous wagers forgotten.
Carmen hurried downstairs and reached the door just as her partner stepped through it.
"Come on," he said. "We've got a lab to get to."
A decidedly darker chapter than we've seen so far. You may think this was out-of-character for the easygoing, fun-loving Grey, but you have to remember the kind of world he lives in.