Debauched
The group of raiders turned out to hardly have been prepared and definitely hadn't expected to have their would be prety attack them. If Derek had stopped to think about it as he wrecklessly charged their position he would've considered them amateurs, below him, but he simply rushed to the top of the low hill they were hiding behind and grinned down at them.
"Surprise! We've come to taste your blood!" Derek shouted, lazily pointing his rifle at the small group from his hip before he opened fire.
The group of raiders scrambled to recover and react but their efforts didn't get them very far. Derek had quite a lead on everyone else but he alone quickly wounded two raiders with his initial volley emptying half his magazine without letting up. Daniel had quickly rushed after him to make sure he wasn't killed and started shooting just as Derek was beginning to reload. The raiders were still so unprepared that he didn't have to worry much about their reaction as he easily gunned down one of the ones Derek had injured and turned his attention to the next, but by then Angelina and everyone else had flanked them from both sides and what happened next went by even more quickly; Derek finished reloading and just as he brought his rifle up to his shoulder to actually aim this time and the raiders barely got a few shots off in his and Daniel's direction before the whole group opened fire tearing them apart. Bullets punched through them from every direction, confusing them as the initial pain set in from their wounds but before those could even turn into the fiery sting of a gunshot wound that had set in more blows that felt like being punched by a Super Mutant struck them. In seconds flat all but the apparent leader, the only one in any sort of armor instead of wasteland rags, was the only one left and amazingly still standing - this was quickly corrected as Derek fired again, destroying her face with a quick burst before the raider could line up a shot.
"Takes care of that." Derek smirked, propping his rifle against his shoulder as he slowly made his way down to the dead bodies, closely looking over the leader of the group as he approached her body.
She didn't look familiar, but Derek wouldn't have said anything even if she had, he simply would've gone about looking for any ammunition she was carrying like he was at the moment, finding nothing but rounds no one needed which he ignored.
"Well then, if that's all taken care of," Jones surveyed the scene of carnage, "We should probably be going - before more show up."
"Yeah," Derek grunted, looking up at him atop the gentle hill, "Probably."
Angelina kept pace with everyone else in the caravan as they slowly started moving again, moving away from the carnage left behind. A small band of raiders had apparently thought it wise to lay in wait for someone heading west, or so it seemed. They had been dispatched quickly and easily enough, even with Derek charging in head on nearly getting himself shot in the process, and once he was done picking through the bodies for ammunition they had started moving again. Since then Angelina had simply kept quiet, lest she provoke him into saying or doing something else idiotic and then she couldn't guarantee she wouldn't put a bullet in his head. Daniel on the other hand had at least shown some sort of intelligence, at least enough to keep from getting everyone in the caravan killed and was alright in her book; in fact he seemed to even be competent which matched his reputation in Canterbury Commons, where they both regularly worked out of for both caravans and anyone else with enough caps to keep them interested. Daniel had been there only for two months so far but he was known for being very business oriented and possibly more importantly capable, there were rumors that he may have been a gunslinger before showing up in town, others however said he'd come up from Rivet City after Project Purity drew in more and more people and the city exploded into an even larger, sprawling settlement, though no one seemed to know why anyone would've wanted to leave back when things were going so well for the city. Whoever her companions were, as they kept trudging along in the painfully barren, scorched and generally uneasy to look at wasteland she didn't know much if anything about the rest of them, who were mostly other mercenaries from Canterbury Commons or hired guns from Megaton having signed their lives away on contracts.
"Don't remember it being this far out." Daniel murmured, gazing out into the distance, "Seems longer than I remember."
"It is a long walk," Jones shrugged, something he seemed to be rather fond of, without looking back at him, "The tower is rather isolated. I suppose that's part of the charm."
"Yeah," Derek snorted, "Sure. All it does is scream 'Hey, come take our stuff! We've got no where to run or hide!', it's a death trap. They're lucky they've got all those guns. Especially considering those Outcast assholes're crawling all over the place in the south."
"Ah, I don't believe they've expanded that far west." Jones pointed out, smiling slightly to himself, "But very observant indeed. They wouldn't get along too well. Tenpenny Tower is safe, but only as long as it keeps its fortress like state. It is doomed to be reclaimed by the wasteland... eventually."
"Eventually." Derek agreed.
"Yeah, well, it's still further than I remember. Gettin' too old for this, I guess." Daniel grumbled, "Can't hoof it so far anymore."
"You're doing fine, it isn't far now." Jones reassured him, "Have any of you ever been to the tower itself?"
Derek quickly swallowed a yes, almost replying without thinking, something Angelina seemed to have noticed from her side of the caravan though she said nothing and he wasn't aware of it.
"Once or twice." Daniel admitted, noticing just as Angelina had, though he didn't pause as he kept staring at Derek from behind, "A while back. A life time ago. Worked there for a while."
"Oh? Been inside the king's castle?" Derek smirked, glancing over his shoulder at Daniel, "You play sophisticate with all those other assholes too? Or were you just their guard dog?"
"Fuck you. The money was good, didn't have to put up with anyone like you, hell, we were only ever attacked by raiders once the entire time I was there. Didn't end well for them."
"Don't imagine it would." Angelina admitted, "Any of them even get through the front gate?"
"Hardly."
Derek went quiet as the conversation continued, knowing all too well just what they were talking about. It hadn't been that long ago that he'd been back at Evergreen Mills, easily the largest and most organized - for lack of a better word - raider camp in the entire area. It was practically a city save for the fact that it had no real systems in place to act like one, but plenty of coming and going, trading, buying and selling went on there, if only of a slightly more violent and chaotic variety. Derek had been there for the raid on Tenpenny Tower, he had been strongly opposed to the idea of out right attacking such a heavily fortified and well defended position - they were raiders, not Talon company. They had their limits, soft targets were best, caravans and wasteland wanderers, less well guarded camps every now and then and a decent living could be made; Derek however was never in any real position of power and despite his reputation no one would listen. It had been a massacre with the raiders on the losing side that time, the relatively small group that had been convinced to tag along was supplemented by a slightly larger one made up by their allies in the Cliffside Caverns and nearly everyone had died or been seriously injured. Derek himself had been shot twice, both relatively minor wounds, and he'd made a run for it just as everyone had once things fell apart. Nails, Terry, Jackal, Vonna and Nolan had all died in the failed raid, and though Derek certainly wasn't attached to any of them seeing the people that came closest to what a raider could call "family" die all in one fell swoop prompted his readying to leave for Megaton.
"Yeah? Why didn't anyone go and finish them?" Angelina asked once Daniel had told them all of what had happened that day, Derek only now starting to pay attention again.
"Tenpenny said no." Daniel shrugged, "And Gustavo made damn sure we listened. He liked his job, more so than the security it afforded him I think. The man loved being able to do shit things to people. Wasn't even about doing what he had to, the man was just cruel."
"Probably would've shot him myself if I was there."
"Probably, I know some of us were definitely tempted to. Bastard got what he had coming though."
"Yes, I hear he perished in the ghoul attack." Jones interrupted, "One can only wonder what it will be that leads to the ghouls perishing as well."
"Who knows." Angelina shrugged, "Smart money's still on the Outcasts expanding even further west. The Brotherhood's already sent Talon company running, the Outcasts haven't been any nicer."
"Yes... I suppose we shall have to wait and see. Hopefully they'll be kind enough to let us conduct our business before they strike, yes?"
"Hopefully." Angelina nodded, shifting the weight of the rifle around in her hands, having been carrying it since they'd fought the raiders earlier, "Ready for 'em if not."
That said she looked over at Derek, "So what about you? Daniel was a guard at the tower, what about you?"
"Haven't you heard? Nothing interesting happens in Megaton." Derek shrugged, acting as entirely uninterested as possible, which was rather easy since he didn't care to get to know them or have them know any more about him than they already did.
"Can't say I have." Angelina replied quickly, pressing him even more, "Never really hung out around Megaton. Downtown girl myself."
"Yeah? Good for you. Don't be such a prying cunt."
"Enough of that." Jones snapped, the first time he'd ever seemed to raise his voice at all though he still seemed perfectly calmn and in control.
"Yeah, alright." Derek muttered.
Angelina quietly went back to marching along through the wasteland, not bothering to offer a verbal reply. Yet again she made a mental note to simply ignore Derek and just keep an eye on him, lest he did something stupid to get them all killed. Instead of bothering with him she simply kept her mind on the job, scanning every which way, never knowing where exactly the next set of raiders or a mutated animal would attack from. While Angelina offered them no support, as they kept moving along she couldn't help but hope the Brotherhood Outcasts really did decide expanding even further west was in their best interests, it would certainly purge the wasteland in a way not unlike that of the Scourge the Brotherhood pretended wasn't simply whole sale slaughter of anything that got in their way in The Pitt; it would also at the very least allow her to come out this way with more caravans and have to worry less, even when paired with an idiot like Derek. It would also possibly open up an entirely different line of work as well, from what Angelina had gathered though they were as xenophobic as ever even the Outcasts couldn't avoid using hired guns on occasion and the further they spread out and the more they tried to do the more they would need someone like her.
Not a bad idea, might come back out this way some time. Angelina thought, gazing out into the distance again, though now she didn't see anything.
With any luck if that did end up happening, Angelina continued with her train of thought, then the Outcasts might end up posing a threat to the rest of the wasteland, which she still didn't mind. If the Brotherhood Of Steel with their false promises and soft hearts were pushed out then perhaps some real good could be done, then the Super Mutant problem would finally be solved as well and most raiders would likely be slaughtered or scared into abandoning their life style. It certainly would've been a step in the right direction if nothing else, now that the Enclave was in hiding yet again someone had to step forward and make the hard decisions that needed to be confronted to get the wasteland moving again.
"There," Jones pointed to a location somewhere in the distance ahead of himself, speaking to the merchant next to him, "We'll set up there for the night. We'll finish the trip to the tower in the morning, shouldn't take too long."
The merchant simply nodded and the group kept marching on, occasionally discussing this or that as they moved toward their temporary destination; the Outcasts, the Brotherhood, the Ghouls now inhabiting Tenpenny Tower, what was becoming of the rest of the wasteland and Daniel even began to speak of himself a bit more freely. As they drew closer Daniel revealed he'd only been at Tenpenny Tower for a relatively short period of time, something not too common of most guards, and that he'd actually been born in Rivet City long before Project Purity's revival and subsequent failure. According to him when he'd left Rivet City had only just begun feeling the effects of the purifier's failure which was what had prompted him to leave, too many new people, too much for the city to take on all of a sudden and Rivet City security suddenly found themselves busy contending with raiders who thought the purifier failure was just a story they'd come up with to keep people away - not to mention all the desperate wastelanders who had thought much the same thing. Even with the Brotherhood Of Steel's assistance it had been too much of a strain and the Brotherhood began pulling out of the Jefferson Memorial, slowly but surely abandoning Rivet City to deal with everything on their own as they fell back and tried to regain their footing. Neither of them did, however, and the Brotherhood, as Doc Jones was quick to point out, were fading fast, just as their rivals the Enclave were wherever their remnants might've been hiding after the destruction of Raven Rock in the far north west. By the time the group had started dicussing just what they thought would happen because of those particular events they were nearly at their destination now not far off in the distance and the conversation shifted over to Talon company, and the role they'd been playing in the wasteland, as well as the Outcasts once again. The Brotherhood may have been the ones to drive Talon company out of Fort Independence when they'd left the Citadel in an attempt to protect Project Purity but in the end they'd been badly beaten in the war with the Enclave and ran off with their tail between their legs; Talon company however never recovered, and instead it was the Outcasts, mostly in the form of patrols sent to see if the rumors of their exile from Fort Independence were true, who sent the infamous mercenaries running for their lives. No compromise, no prisoners, no talk, no trial, men and women alike were slaughtered whenever and wherever they were found - most fought but were overpowered. Just like Doc Jones' prediction of Tenpenny Tower's future the mercenaries of Talon company were already a fading wasteland legend.
"If only the Outcasts would ignore DC and come out this way." Angelina sighed as they finally reached their destination and she took a seat, rifle across her lap.
"Yes, it's a shame I suppose, they'd do some good even without intending to."
"Doubt they'd really keep the raiders in line... doubt they'd even try. Shit," Derek sat down, digging through his pack for another bottle of dirty water, "They'd probably just take a few pot shots as they passed by, then watch as they tore apart another caravan, or a town, or whatever. SIck fucks, all of 'em. Worse than the raiders."
"How do you even fucking figure that? You spend too long hanging around some irradiated water or something?" Angelina snapped before Daniel could.
"How don't you?" Derek snorted, looking over at her as he opened his water, "Sure they're honest about it, hell, they don't even like any of us, but they claim to be saving humanity and then go and let it fall apart? For what? Like technology - weapons - will save us. Like they can tell us who can and can't get their hands on what and when. What's stopping them from taking over if they ever wanted is numbers. They've never had the numbers, never will."
"You're crazy." Angelina shook her head, looking away, then back at him, "Maybe, but what they're doing is a lot more beneficial. They might not be out to save everyone, and think they can restart the world on their own with a few fancy toys, but indirectly, through killing off any weak, pesky problems the wasteland might have, they're helping more than anyone."
"Every man for himself huh?" Derek chuckled, sipping his water, "Yeah, alright. You try that, see how it works out. Fuckin' nothing there but an early grave."
Of course Derek didn't admit he also knew better than to hope to one day see civilization rebuild itself, or to think that depending on those around you was any better, but over time - and more slowly than he'd care to admit - he'd realized living on your own was miserable and hard.
"Whatever the case," Jones interrupted again before a real fight started, "The important thing is to do what one must, isn't it? Survival, prosperity - on a personal level - that motivates anyone and everyone."
"Even you?" Daniel questioned, though he didn't disagree.
"Even me." Jones confirmed with a quick nod, "It's why I joined Hoff's caravan in the first place, and why even after his death I kept it going."
"Guess we should be glad you did, pays pretty well." Daniel smirked.
"Yes, well, why not? If it brings everyone in Canterbury to my caravan and I get to pick my guards first, it's good business."
"Fair enough." Daniel shrugged, "Pays better than anything else in the wasteland."
"I hear those guys in the Scrapyard out by Minefield pay pretty well." Angelina admitted, shrugging, "But that's only if you've got a strong stomach, I hear they're... less than friendly."
"Yeah..." Derek nodded, "I've heard about them, sound like a real cold bunch."
"They seem like it." Angelina went on, "They... contacted me, thought I'd be just the person to bring in for some of their errands."
"And?" Daniel questioned, watching intently as Angelina paused, studying her carefully, he had once been given the same offer, knowing Angelina had worked with them would definitely make him less comfortable.
Angelina shook her head, "I didn't take it. Wasn't exactly my kinda thing."
"Yeah? What is your kind of thing?" Derek asked, "You're here after all."
"Anything that isn't out right murder mostly." Angelina admitted without a moment of hesitation, "That's not worth the trouble, neither is making too much of a scene. Bodyguard work, caravans, scouting, geomapping, anything else that pays well enough is fair game."
"Pff, sounds boring."
"You're from Megaton, what would you know?" Angelina snorted, "They're too busy with reinforcing their walls and using and abusing everyone from that Vault to really get out and see the wasteland."
"Didn't say I was from Megaton, though. Not originally." Derek smirked.
"Well alright mister mysterious, out with it then, what about you?" Daniel asked, honestly interested at that point, "She's from downtown, I was born in Rivet City, Jones is from Canterbury, what about you?"
"From out west." Derek waved vaguely in the direction they had been headed, "Guess I'm a drifter if y'wanna be technical about it. Tried doing what I could to make it."
Derek wasn't necessarily lying nor telling the truth either, as everything he'd said had its origin in a bit of truth, he'd just worded it cleverly; he was indeed from out west, he'd lived in Evergreen Mills for quite some time but had never kept a regular home even then. Like most raiders Derek had wandered wherever the money and chems were, and thus he'd been as far as the Grisly Diner, and made stops at all known raider locations and some still secret ones in between.
"So it seems you're well suited to this task, then." Jones smiled as he entered the conversation, "Good, good, if anything happens we'll have a local to guide us."
"Yeah, sure." Derek shrugged.
"Well then, you're not entirely useless after all." Angelina muttered.
With that the group went back to their usual ways, the conversation becoming a bit more relaxed again and mostly covering wasteland happenings as of late, up to and including the Brotherhood all but abandoning downtown as they continued to collapse under more and more pressure, trying to regroup and consolidate their power. That had caused no end of complaints from everyone, particularly Three Dog who kept trying to convince everyone of his importance, and that the lessening of their presence at GNR would only weaken the "good fight" - most people simply didn't want GNR to be destroyed by Super Mutants as it was virtually the only radio station left. Derek didn't seem to mind the idea of Three Dog finally shutting up, Daniel didn't mind the news reports, and music always relieved the boredom that sometimes consumed the life of a wastelander, and Angelina simply found him to be a nuisance. Whatever became of him no one in the group seemed to mind too much, and as the conversation winded down until it stopped completely they all fell asleep.
The next morning everyone woke up roughly at the same time except Doc Jones who'd already risen and started cooking over a make shift camp fire, smiling as everyone got to their feet.
"Ah, wonderful. Just in time. Breakfast, then we move."
"Works for me." Derek yawned, rather obnoxiously, and dug into his pack for some of the food he'd brought along, it'd proved filling on many of his journeys before which allowed for him to carry less and get the same benefits out of it.
"We'll be at the tower in a couple hours then, won't we?" Daniel asked as he stood and stretched, checking his 10mm SMG after he did so.
"Yes, it shouldn't be too much longer." Jones nodded, "We'll get there, see what we can trade then be on our way."
"Right." Daniel nodded, taking a seat once again, "Speaking of which, how's the tower doing with things like that?"
"They're attempted to turn themselves into a trading post, much like Girdershade, they're a bit more safe, attacked less often... they do alright." Jones admitted, "I still don't believe they'll last much longer. Too isolated, even when people do come by, going east or west, they're not made to feel very welcome. Roy Phillips is no public relations expert."
"Sounds like a lot of people." Daniel shrugged, "The guys back at Rivet City weren't exactly worried about how they looked behind the fact that keeping a clean reputation would help them. Bannon was a sneaky bastard."
"And everyone else? I hear Rivet City had a problem with... corruption. At the highest levels."
"It did." Daniel admitted quickly, "It wasn't really anything most of us paid attention to, what with more pressing matters like those Mirelurks, or Project Purity. Raiders were hitting us pretty hard when they heard about that."
"What about the Brotherhood?"
"They stayed by the purifier itself mostly, helped us out around there, and even around town. We definitely got something out of it, but Li was already high tailing it by then and things we're falling apart. Throw in those wastelanders rioting every other day and the Brotherhood's none too pleasant reactions and it was all over with. I got out once I realized things weren't going to get any better."
"Cut your losses then? Suppose I should be glad, would've been down a talented guard if you hadn't left."
"True." Daniel smirked, "Anyway, enough of this depressing stuff."
Jones nodded, "Right then, everyone eat, we've got a long trip ahead of us."
"Aw, no more camp fire stories?" Derek grinned, "Oh well, fun while it lasted."
Angelina who had been listening to all this without much to say simply shrugged, though no one noticed. Daniel's tales provided a bit more information about him, though they could've easily been lies, Angelina had never spent much time around Rivet City or Tenpenny Tower and one of those places now lacked any survivors from when he had been there to agree with anything he'd said. Whoever Daniel was at least some of it seemed true if not all of it, Angelina had developed the useful talent of seeing through most lies, and there were plenty of half-truths and out right lies to sift through in the wasteland; even more when one was involved in her line of work. Whatever was wrong with what Daniel was saying Angelina didn't know, but she knew something was wrong all the same.
"There's the tower." Jones smiled to himself as Tenpenny Tower came into view in the distance, they still had a ways to walk but they'd be there quickly enough.
"Great." Derek shrugged, "Speaking of which, why d'ya need so much security if we're heading to the tower? Heard the raiders in Cliffside haven't been too active lately. We're taking the safe route, what gives?"
Jones hesitated, "It's... complicated. After what happened to Hoff, I've grown more and more fond of travelling as well protected as possible."
"Not so complicated." Derek shrugged again.
"I suppose not." Jones quickly agreed, still staring out ahead at the tower in the distance.
From that point on the group remained oddly quiet, though no one seemed to mind enough to actually speak up and break the silence, and remained so until they were almost at their destination which now loomed over them eerily, like a giant bloated sick green corpse from the old world taunting them with all the luxury their lives would never have even if they lived there. Angelina couldn't help but wonder what it was like all the same, relatively safe from the rest of the wasteland, able to actually live a somewhat normal, stable life. It wasn't for her however, nor did she expect anyone else in their group to feel any differently. None of them seemed too well suited to living like that otherwise they likely already would be instead of hoofing it out in the wasteland. In the end Angelina figured there were two basic types of people in the world anymore, those who were fit for city living and everyone else. Angelina was part of everyone else, the groups that scoured the wasteland fighting to survive and sometimes no matter how hard they fought not surviving even a day - and sometimes they survived but not entirely; something inside them broke. All too often Angelina had encountered people like that, torn apart by the wasteland and barely able to function, more than a few of them went crazy or developed fatal addictions. Some of them killed themselves. As far as she could tell none of her current group were those types of people, in fact other than Derek most of them seemed to be rather professional. That was all Angelina could ask for, some stability and the skills needed to help keep them all alive. Personality was a non-issue, if they didn't mesh then she simply wouldn't work with them again if she had a say in the matter. Who Angelina worked for was much the same, and worse, they dictated who else she had to deal with along the way. Now it was Jones, and he said she had to put up with the Ghouls, whom Angelina had never really approved of - at least not thos in Tenpenny Tower. Roy Phillips was a shining beacon of lunacy in a rolling sea of despair and stupidity. He claimed to represent Ghouls positively and yet he'd used force to take the tower and then killed or chased out whoever had survived that night, and then they wondered why no one spent more time around them than necessary. Whatever Angelina thought she'd keep it to herself, it didn't pay to have too big of a mouth in the wasteland.
"Anyone ever been to Tenpenny Tower anyway?" Derek asked suddenly, breaking Angelina's concentration again.
"Once." Angelina shrugged, "After Roy Phillips moved in, didn't care for it too much."
"Yeah? Sounds like a pretty swell guy from what I hear."
"Yeah, sure." Angelina snorted, "If you like someone watching every move you make, it's wonderful."
"I hear pre-war China was much the same way." Jones chuckled, "Perhaps old Roy has been brushing up at the Arlington Library?"
"Maybe." Angelina smirked, "If there's anything left there."
"Ah, of course, I forgot the Brotherhood had their way with it a while back didn't they? A pity."
"There was that fire, too." Angelina pointed out, shaking her head, "Someone got a little trigger happy with a flamethrower or something, burned half the place down, the rest is destroyed."
"Shame," Daniel chipped in, "I heard they took plenty of stuff from there but might've not taken it all. Apparently they even took stuff that wasn't related to weaponry, pretty odd."
"Yes, they seem to have actually been interested in whatever they could find. Perhaps they're starting to think everything is dangerous to us?"
"Yeah, like having something to read is going to kill us all." Daniel snorted, "They're just trying to control us even more than before. FIrst it was the weapons, now this."
"Maybe," Angelina agreed, "It doesn't really matter now, whatever they know we don't and that's that. Unless someone decides to break into the Citadel, which isn't too bad of an idea. It'd be put to a lot better use if someone else lived there."
"Or it'd turn into a blood bath, like all those people trying to get onto the ferry to Point Lookout." Derek reminded them all of what had happened to the Duchess, overloaded and with people starting to shoot wildly at each other it had been torn apart and sunk quickly.
"Or that." Angelina admitted with a shrug, "Either way. Speaking of which, weren't most of the people on the Duchess from Rivet City?"
"Yeah," Daniel shook his head, "Plenty of people wanted out, didn't matter where they were headed. Even Point Lookout seemed like a better option than here."
"And that's saying something." Derek snorted, "Then again I can't blame 'em, everything's gone to hell since that purifier fell apart. Doesn't matter that most people didn't have shit to do with it."
"It would seem the Brotherhood was right about one thing, we are definitely determined to destory ourselves." Jones mused.
"Or they think Dostoevsky's too depressing for a civilization trying to rebuild itself." Angelina chuckled, "Either way."
Jones grinned as they kept walking and talking, "I didn't realize anyone else here had managed to find any unburned books."
"Only two." Angelina sighed, shaking her head, "And a torn up old analysis of his work. I've been looking for the rest for a while."
"If only it were that easy." Jones shrugged, "Such is life."
"Yeah, I guess so." Angelina agreed.
With that the group fell yet again into relative silence, not much being said as they cautiously continued their journey, at the pace they were moving they would soon reach Tenpenny Tower which still loomed a little ways off in the d istance within a couple hours. The only problem with them approaching the tower at that particular point in time was that, as they kept walking, they could suddenly see flames burst through several of the windows and smoke started billowing out into the clear sky leaving dark black clouds stretching up as far as they could see.
"Shit." Derek slowly stopped and looked up at the flaming windows, smoking pouring out of them in a thick, steady stream, "That's never good."
"That'd be an understatement." Jones agreed, glaring at the burning tower for a moment as he thought quickly, "No use changing our route, it'll take too long any other way. Too many risks taking a less used route."
"There could be a lot more trouble waiting for us there than anywhere else." Daniel quickly pointed out, "Not worth it. Even if not, they'll expect us to help. It'll be just like Rivet City."
"Perhaps, we'll just have to see." Jones started toward the burning tower, not bothering to say anything else as he went.
"Yeah, I guess." Daniel grunted as he took off after him.
Despite moving as quickly as possible the caravan still wasn't moving all that quickly, it simply wasn't possible, and letting the Brahmin trail behind and possible losing them wasn't an option for anyone - after all they were all there for the money, and they all had a sneaking suspicion that everyone else in their group cared just as little for saving anyone's life in the burning Tenpenny Tower. At the very least none of them seemed too concerned with the possible loss of human, or near human depending on one's views, life inside the now raging inferno. It might've been that they'd been misprogrammed from the start, maybe they were simply ruined by the wasteland, Jones didn't know or care all he knew was that when they reached what was left of the tower they were going to help him make his money one way or another. Unfortunately as they finally derw near enough to the tower to feel the waves of intense heat it produced there didn't seem to be much left, and as far as they could tell no one had managed to escape the inferno - and if they hadn't by then, likely wouldn't.
"Well this turned out not to be a collossal waste of time." Daniel didn't bother lowering his voices, someone tossing themselves out of a third story window, hitting their head against the large wall far too hard to have survived, "Unless you wanna go put him out."
"You know, I hired you to be useful, not annoying."
"Yeah, and I signed up to escort you there and back, not go rushing into a raging inferno." Daniel shook his head and looked up at the tower as they walked around to the front gate and watched as the fire spread, none of them any more willing than Daniel to play hero.
"Doesn't look like we'll be getting in there." Derek stepped up to the front gate and watched as the front entrance kept burning, the entire tower now burning wildly, "Let's get outta here before it falls over and kills us all."
Jones clenched his jaw for just a moment before nodding in agreement, "Yes... let's."
And like nothing at all had happened the group turned and hurriedlly left. Whatever had gone on at the tower was soon left behind. It didn't concern any of them, and possibly more importantly none of them seemed to care. The further away from the tower they got the better, it would be attracting all sorts of unwanted attention and they didn't need to be associated with the fire in any way shape or form. They had enough to run from as it was.
