Debauched
Canterbury Or Bust
Doc Jones' caravan had left the burning mass of death and destruction that was now Tenpenny Tower behind as quickly as possible; they'd quickly decided not only had no one survived, but more importantly if they were seen in the area there was nothing to stop someone from enforcing wasteland justice and trying to kill them all, assuming they'd been involved. Everyone, for their own reasons, couldn't help but feel it was a bit ironic, Daniel had been known to enforce his own brand of justice and hadn't exactly gone off on a righteous law abiding path to so, Angelina had become vengeful and violent, dealing with anyone that got in the way however she saw fit, and Derek simply found the idea of burning down Tenpenny Tower rather amusing - every raider in the west dreamed of watching it burn, if only after they'd taken everything of value. Doc Jones himself had his reasons as well, other than not wanting to be the victim of an angry Ghoul lynch mob - almost worse than regular ones - but he also didn't want his caravan associated with anything going on in the wasteland other than building a mercantile empire centered in Canterbury which he was well on his way to doing. The mysterious "Doctor" had shown up one day almost out of nowhere, as most people tended to arrive in the post-apocalyptic world, and with a stack of caps which he quickly put toward becoming involved in the caravan business, soon partnering with Doc Hoff. It had been Jones' own business skills that had helped their caravan rise to the top as Canterbury became overgrown with them, many sprouting up over night only to die out just as quickly once Project Purity was being worked on again. That was Jones' little secret, though, and he knew better than to let anyone in on his plan to eventually become the single most wealthy man in the settlment, giving him the sort of power Brahmin barons had in the New California Republic.
"Doc?" Angelina looked at Jones ahead of her, still leading the caravan, waiting for a reply she didn't get, raising her voice slightly, "Doc?"
"Oh, yes?" He glanced over his shoulder without breaking stride, "Sorry, yes?"
"You sure we shouldn't turn around?"
"No, no, the tower... it was a set back, but I'm sure we'll do better if we don't cut our losses and run."
"If you say so." Angelina shrugged, adjusting the rifle slung over her shoulder, "Eiher way I get paid."
"And that's why I'm getting my money's worth," Jones smiled slightly, "Can't have a successful business without making good on deals and using your resources as much as possible."
"If you say so." Angelina shrugged, she didn't know much about running a business, all she really knew was how to survive and how to market that ability, anything else was beyond her.
Part of knowing how to survive was knowing when to turn back, though, and Angelina knew that the fire could've been caused by raiders, and if they had finally decided to wipe out Tenpenny Tower then there was a lot of trouble that could be waiting them at Girdershade. If Jones said they were going anyway though, then they were going anyway, and no one questioned it. They all needed the money and none of them were afraid, or else they hid it very well. Angelina just didn't care, if she died then she wouldn't have anything to worry about, granted a death at the hands of raiders wasn't something anyone wanted to experience, but even that couldn't go on forever; unless they sold you to the Paradise Falls slavers, a fate she had nearly suffered. There were ways to end even that, though. Chief among them was letting the explosive slave collar they put on everyone do its job, but luckily - for lack of a better word - Angelina, as a mercenary, had worked with them before helping to find escaped slaves. It had been rather hypocritical, but there was nothing Angelina could've done, it was for her own survival and if they weren't able to save themselves then they would have to learn to love their new, miserable lives. Angelina had escaped on her own and so could they, that was just how the wasteland worked, and no matter how much someone might've helped you it was all up t o you in the end. That was how Angelina had survived since escaping the raiders that had captured her, and was how she would continue to survive. Of course Angelina didn't plan on being a mercenary forever, tthough it had come to be all she really knew, Angelina had made plans to build up a decent stack of caps and leave the DC area.
"So, what if Girdshade's having problems too?" Derek suddenly asked, voicing a thought many of them must of had, "I mean, I doubt raiders would be stupid enough to just burn the tower and not take anything, and I doubt they would be able to get inside..."
"Then our plans are ruined," Jones admitted, "And we have to turn back, but let's just hope that isn't the case."
"Yeah... alright."
Derek had shut up but he knew that whatever had happened at Tenpenny Tower was more than likely related to the raiders in the area. Many of them had been talking about storming the Ghoul haven and taking whatever they found, knowing there just had to be tons of valuables and caps stocked up from before the Ghouls even took over let alone afterward. It wouldn't surprise him if they had tried to enact their plan after he left, and it really didn't surprise him that they would do something like burning it down afterward. Raiders didn't bother with proper housing most of the time and Tenpenny Tower would've made them an obvious target for other raiders and wastelanders seeking justice. If it had been raiders from Evergreen Mills or Cliffside Caverns Derek knew they would likely go out and attack Girdershade as well, and if they were doing either of those things let alone both they would be operating in full force, that meant a lot more trouble than the caravan was prepared for.
"What if it does happen, anyway? Not like we can't handle it." Daniel shrugged, "We did earlier."
"What if there's more?" Derek challenged, "You gonna be so brave then?"
"Sure." Daniel shrugged, "Why not? I spent long enough keeping them at bay at Tenpenny Tower let alone Rivet City."
"Rivet City didn't exactly have a lot of problems with raiders, even later on." Derek muttered, "Besides you had the Brotherhood on your side."
"Yeah, if you really wanna call them helpful, I suppose we had help."
"More than anyone else ever had." Angelina quickly pointed out, "If nothing else they were good human shields. Resilient ones, too, with that power armor."
"If only they'd ever stuck around long enough to do even that. They usually fell back and protected their precious Project Purity."
"Whatever you say, man, until it got really bad there I'm sure them just sticking around was enough to scare people off."
"Yeah, I guess." Daniel grunted.
Derek nodded and went back to walking in relative silence. Whatever ended up happening he could deal with it, a death at the hands of his one time comrades would be horrible bu being killed by others for having been a raider would've been worse. Derek needed the caps as well, though he couldn't lie, he had tagged along to get out of Megaton and hopefully see some action; that didn't mean he was stupid enough to go against a group of raiders big enough to take on Tenpenny Tower and walk away from it.
Quite some time later the caravan was finally approaching its final destination for the first leg for their trip, Girdershade, which they could see in the distance under surprisingly still standing overpass. The small two peson settlement had done surprisingly well, even as isolated and vulnerable as it had been, becoming a relatively improtant trading post for those coming from out west or heading out that way. Everything looked normal from that distance, if nothing else they didn't hear any shooting and screaming; it was either untouched or the raiders from the tower had torn through Girdershade just as quickly. As they drew even closer they could see that it was apparently the latter, unfortunately, and for the first time Jones looked concerned.
"This isn't good."
"No shit." Derek snorted, "Let's see what the damage is."
"Stop!" Someone unseen shouted, "Don't move!"
"Oh great..." Derek sighed, looking around, "Are you blind? We're a caravan!"
"I said don't move asshole!"
"Fine." Derek sighed, looking up as he realized the voice was coming from the overpass, though now several armed people had shown up on ground level, "This isn't going to end well."
"Probably not." Angelina agreed, scanning the entire group, she had unslung her rifle and was carrying it now but knew not to try and shoot her way out of the situation.
"Who are you?" A young brunette approached, gun at the ready, two other guards on either side of her, "What're you doing?"
"We are a caravan," Jones gestured to everyone behind him, "As my companion oh so eloquently put it, I am Doc Jones."
"Jones?" The woman lowered her rifle slightly, "What're you carrying?"
"The agreed upon supplies, naturally." Jones smiled, "Everything you requested, at the agreed upon price."
"Alright... no one else knew..." She nodded, dropping her aggressive stance, "Sorry about that, we had some problems."
"Raiders?"
"Yeah - I assume that's what all that smoke on the horizon's about?"
"It is," Jones nodded solemnlly, "We came along it far too late, we didn't find any survivors."
"Shit." The woman frowned, looking down and away for a moment, letting her shoulders fall before looking back at the group, "No one? Damn it... that's going to cause some serious problems."
Jones nodded, "Yes, I imagine it would - we are here however. Shall we continue our business as arranged?"
The woman nodded, "Alright. You'll have to wait while we finish cleaning things up though."
"Alright." Jones nodded and lead the group into Girdershade proper.
After about an hour of sitting around Girdershade relaxing and waiting for things to settle down the group met with the woman they had been speaking with earlier, finding out her name was Nancy, and the raiders that had attacked Tenpenny Tower had apparently come from Cliffside Caverns and Evergreen Mills, at least two dead raiders from each encampment beign positively identified, hence their less than welcoming greeting.
"Well then, I suppose we should've arrived earlier. Or perhaps later." Jones mused, looking across the table at Nancy, everyone else gathered around the room though they didn't sit with the two, "Either way, I'm sure you're still interested in what we have to offer."
"Yes." Nancy nodded, a grim looking coming over her face, "We need it now more than ever, we've been doing good but we still took some losses. Too many."
"I see." Jones nodded, falling silent for a moment as he pretended to sympathize, "I suppose then, as important as they are, you wouldn't mind negotiating."
"What? For what?" Nancy leaned back slightly, staring at him intensely, "We can't afford to not get those supplies, not with the way things are out here."
"And I have to get as much as I possibly can out of this."
"We could just wait and sell it to Tenpenny refugees, I'm sure someone made it out." Daniel mused, "Even Ghouls are greedy. They would've grabbed the money before running."
"Good point." Jones admitted, looking at him for a moment before directing his gaze back to Nancy, raising an eyebrow for a moment, "So then, what is it? You obviously need our help."
"Yes," Nancy sighed, "I know, I realize that, but we also need our money. It costs a lot to keep things going, expanding, growing."
"Hmm, then I suppose we have to find a compromise."
"I suppose so." Nancy nodded, sighing heavily again, "Alright... look, we'll take it all off your hands, whatever your price is now, if you stick around a bit. We could use some hired guns."
"Worried about the raiders?" Derek smirked.
"Yes, asshole." Nancy glared at him, "Very. They didn't do too much damage that wasn't cosmetic but they'll be back, they always are, this time I wouldn't be surprised if they came back sooner considering how badly we managed to beat them."
"Riding high after Tenpenny, I guess. Thought they were invinceable." Daniel shrugged, "If they come back I'm sure we'll wipe them out."
"Then let's hope they come back." Nancy said with clear determination, "The more we kill the better. One of these days we'll be powerful enough to march out there and kill them all."
"I'm sure plenty of people would help if you told them you were going to." Derek shrugged, "But I'm alright with that."
"Everyone else?" Jones looked around and everyone agreed with the idea, none of them strangers to such activities, and nodded as he looked back at Nancy, "Then it's decided. We stay."
Derek smirked, "Bet I'll tag more of 'em than any of you."
"Don't be so sure." Nancy stood from her seat across from Jones, "Our sniper you saw earlier's pretty good. Sit's up there in his own little camp, loves his job and hardly comes down."
Derek simply shrugged and walked outside with everyone else, the rest of Jones' caravan checking their weapons just as he did, getting ready for whatever came their way next.
"This is boring as hell." Derek mutterd for what felt like the thousandth time and likely was since they'd agreed to help stand guard for the rest of the day, Girdershade's leaders fearing the raiders might come back.
"Just shut up and keep an eye out." Angelina pulled a small, beat up flask from her gear and opened it, taking a sip, "And shoot straight this time."
"I shoot fine."
"Your ammo." Angelina shrugged, slowly emptying her flask over the next couple of minutes, savoring every last bit of whiskey.
Derek simply shrugged, watching for any movement in the distance. He and Angelina were sitting out on the north side of Girdershade, just under the overpass that gave the place its name. He'd felt it a bit useless to be covering an area the sniper above them - Andy - could've easily watched but as was pointed out to him when Derek started complaing Andy could only watch so much, being their only sniper, and he had to watch all directions to spot any threats as soon as possible. So there he was, bored and deciding that signing the contract to joing the caravan in Megaton had been a bad idea. He had wanted to get out of Megaton and get some action in his life again, instead he was sitting there looking for threats that may not ever show up, messing around with his revolver, spinning the cylinder back and forth, reminded of how he'd acquired it. It was the second time he'd thought of the event since joining the caravan, when he'd killed Lucy West. She had been carrying the revolver, which Derek took, not having acquired the rifle he now had just yet. If the raiders did come back he just hoped they didn't blow his cover, there were still plenty of people that would remember him.
Angelina on the other hand was more concerned with what might happen if the raiders came back and were successful in their attack, having experienced the horrors of a raider attack first hand, and then again several times after that after becoming a mercenary though ever since the first incident she had come out alive and had never been captured again. If it came to that, Angelina had decided, she would rather kill herself. Despite making that decision she never escaped the sick feeling that cropped up whenever she knew she might be dealing with raiders, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, quickly suppressed and ignored whenever it showed up. Angelina just told herself it was an annoying survival instinct, though deep down inside she knew she was still scared by the idea of dealing with raiders, and likely always would be.
Derek eyed Angelina, who from behind with her shaved hair and combat armor looked rather masculine, shutting the cylinder on his revolver and putting it away. She'd gotten on his nerves but now he just wondered if she or anyone else was actually capable of standing up to the local raiders. There were plenty of new faces showing up and filling the ranks but Derek knew as chaotic as raider life was there were plenty of old, experienced killers, many of whom would give Rivet City security a run for their money. If they came back properly prepared and humbled by their defeat the first time Derek wasnt sure everyone else could hold their own.
"You alright?" Derek asked finally after studying her a little longer.
"What?" Angelina slowly turned to face him, rifle sitting beside her propped up against a support beam for the overpass.
"Are you ready? Didn't really think we'd run into anything this serious, but I have my doubts about everyone."
"Can't say I don't." Angelina admitted flatly, not in the least bit offended by Derek's comment, "But we have to rely on them to do their jobs. Unless you wanna be a coward and run."
"Yeah, right." Derek snorted, "I'm here for the action as much as the caps, I just don't wann have a fucking pile of bodies around me and have to deal with everyone myself."
"Awfully full of yourself." Angelina glanced over her shoulder, quickly sweeping the horizon before looking back at Derek, "Sure you could handle that?"
"Probably better than the rest of you." Derek shrugged, looking up at her, "But I'd rather not even have to try that."
"Same." Angelina shrugged and turned back around, grabbing her rifle instantly as she spotted something in the distance, "Andy! Incoming!"
"Shit." Andy rushed over to the opposite end of the overpass and peered through his scoped rifle, "Shit. There's tons of 'em!"
"Shit." Angelina cursed, looking at Derek as he got up, "Stay here, I'll be back."
"Whatever." Derek grabbed his rifle and got ready, dropping to a knee half behind the support beam Angelina's rifle had been leaning against as she took off, spotting a large group of raiders coming over a hill in the distance, "Oh fuck me."
Andy from his perch high abot Derek took careful aim, resting his rifle on the railing of the overpass and pulled the trigger, putting a bullet through the chest of one raider and hitting another in the leg. Andy worked the bolt on his .308 hunting rifle and took aim again, quickly firing his next shot and missing, though the clumped together raiders allowed the stray round to smack someone else in the side of the head.
"Keep it up!" Derek shouted, watching as Andy started shooting, deciding to join in after a moment and let off a quick burst.
Derek's shots didn't manage to kill anyone though they did injure two raiders who simplyl got back up and kept running, Andy picking off one after only two limping steps. Derek let off a second burst this time every single round found their way to an unlucky raider's chest dropping her instantly.
"Where the fuck did that bitch go?" Derek looked to either side then looked over his shoulder back at Girdershade proper, "Left me here all alone, she fucking left me."
Whether Angelina was coming back or not several Girdershade resident had shown up, weapons in hand, and joined Derek as bullets started impacting all around him including one right next to him spraying cement debris in his face. Derek lost panicked, lost his balance and fell over, scrambling behind the pillar he had been next to as one of the Girdershade residents went down with a bullet hole replacing their eye.
"Shit." Derek muttered, peering out from behind the pillar as another person was taken out by the now massive group of raiders, "Angelina!"
No one answered and he didn't see her back in town. Wherever she had gone he was the only member of the caravan present, the rest of Girdershade getting ready for the raiders to draw nearer. Derek swung out still in a crouch and started shooting wildly spraying the front row of the mass of raiders, reloading quickly as he got up to leave. Whever the rest of the caravan was that's where he needed to be, everyone in Girdershade was faring just as horribly as he had expected now that a truly full force attack was in motion, and Jones had his money - if he lived everyone else could die. He took off in a sprint, emptying his rifle as he went, reloading only once he was back in town.
"Jones! Danny! The hell are you?"
"Shut up! Quit yelling!" Daniel reached out and grabbed Derek as he was about to run by and pulled him over behind a building, "Shut up, what's going on?"
"They're about to over run the north side, there's too many of them, came back to find you guys. We gotta jet."
"Shit." Daniel looked at the ground for a moment, "Alright, I lost Jones and everyone else, one of the guys bit it. They're everywhere."
"Shit." Derek sighed, shifting his weight, "Any way out?"
"No." Daniel shook his head, "They're everywhere, if we go we'll have to shoot our way out."
"Great." Derek paused, "Let's just find Jones."
Daniel nodded, not bothered much as a stray round struck a woman in the throat as she ran by and started bleeding out a few feet away, "You good on ammo?"
"Yeah, I'm still good."
"Good, let's go." Daniel nodded and took off, Derek following close behind.
Derek soon found Daniel had been right, ducking and shooting wildly as they ran through Girdershade looking for the other members of their caravan, raiders trying to close in from all sides and several people had tried to break through the lines only to be savagely beaten, stabbed, shot and killed. Derek had been right, the attack earlier had been half hearted, probably too confident after their victory at Tenpenny Tower to succeed at Girdershade; now however it seemed everyone from Evergreen Mils to Cliffsie Caverns had shown up for the second attempt.
"Is there even anything valuable here?" Derek mused loudly, half directing his question to Daniel.
"All the caravans!" Daniel reminded him as he slid into cover behind a flimsy tent, reloading as he did so, "They're gonna rob 'em blind, is my guess."
"Makes sense." Derek nodded, ducking down as well, a couple of stray bullets tearing through the tent above them, "Let's just make sure there's one less caravan to rob."
"If we could find them-" Daniel suddenly stood, grabbing Derek and pulling him along for a second before taking off in a run, Derek following close behind, "Jones!"
"Daniel." Jones looked over at him, for the first time appearing shocked and confused, "Have you seen the others?"
"One of the guys bit it when they showed up," Derek informed him without the slightest bit of remorse, "Angelina ran back here to get you or some shit. Haven't seen her since."
"Damn." Jones looked away for a moment, thinking quickly, "We must find her and leave, there is no hope."
"That's what I was sayin', just before Angelina ditched me." Derek snapped, "The bitch left us to die."
"Perhaps, we will have to deal with that later." Jones offered, feeling much the same way, "We must make it out alive before we can worry about petty revenge."
"Fine whatever." Derek looked around, "Lead the way then."
Jones nodded and took off, his two companions following as close behind as possible, ducking and weaving whenever possible to avoid taking a stray round, running past a couple of buildings that had been set alight in the confused mess as they continued following Jones who now seemed unphased by the violent chaos around him. Derek and Daniel weren't all that affected either, neither of them caring much for what was going on, only concerned with how it affected them and their jobs. The group kept this up for the next minute until they literally ran into Angelina going in the opposite direction, knocking Jones flat onto his back and taking aim at the other two before they all realized who they had run into.
"Where were you?" Derek demanded, taking a step forward, "You ditched me."
"I was trying to find Jones, got lost in the mess." Angelina shot back, "You didn't hold the line."
"Not my town."
"You're going to get us all killed, you idiot!"
"Enough." Jones snapped though is expression had returned to its usual calm state, "We are going to leave. Now. Girdershade is lost."
"Fine, which way are we going?" Angelina looked around, pausing to take a shot at a lone raider that had rushed straight into Girdershade without being shot somehow, destroying his face in a cloud of blood.
"That way." Jones gestured to the man Angelina had just shot, "There are slightly less of them."
"Works for me." Angelina nodded.
Derek hesitated before grabbing his revolver and handing it over to Jones, "Better take this."
Jones took the revolver and studied it for a second before nodding at Derek, "Let's go."
Everyone nodded and started moving, though now much more slowly, as the raiders started closing in, throwing fire bombs as they went, igniting at least three buildings and two tents; several people had been trapped inside and their anguished screams could be heard over most of the other violence. Still the group kept moving, eventually pinned down near the south end of town, fighting off a small wave of raiders as they tried to break through into the town.
"Told you they were coming back." Derek muttered to himself as he reloaded, swinging around from behind cover to start shooting again, taking out a female raider as she beat a caravaneer to death.
"Looks like they're mostly coming from the north and east." Angelina observed loudly enough to be heard over all the gunfire and fighting going on around them, "We're in luck."
"Yes, it would seem so." Jones agreed with a curt nod, taking aim and putting a single round through a raider's chest, "Let's hope our luck holds out."
Everyone fell silent again except to let everyone else know they were reloading ast hey held the line, starting to repel the raiders, moving forward slightly every now and then, stepping over rows of bodies; some of those bodies were in fact the rest of their caravan, something Jones noted as he kept moving forward. Derek had started lagging behind slightly and as he started to jog after everyone a raider came around out of nowhere and literally ran into Derek, the two giong straight to the ground fighting over his rifle. The raider was at a disadvantage however as she fought one handed, trying to club Derek with hr piece of piping as they rolled around, eventually straddling him as he lay on his back, taking a light hit to the side of the head.
"Son of a bitch." Derek clenched his jaw and shoved his rifle into the woman's chest, pushing her back enough to give him time to swing the butt of his rifle at her face, rolling after he did using her lost balance to get out from under her.
Scrambling back to his feet Derek gripped his rifle tightly and fired off a quick burst at waist level, one bullet catching his attacker in the hip but she kept coming, swinging and nearly breaking Derek's off hand as she made contact. Derek dropped his rifle and reached for his knife as he backed away, his attack still coming at him unaffected by the round in her, the two met again and Derek raised his injured arm, taking a blow to his forearm as he stepp in and put his knife in the female raider's rib cage, quickly following it up with several more thrusts. The raider fell over, curling up in pain trying to protect herself but Derek straddled her much as she had him and kept stabbing her with as much energy as he could manage, finsihing her off with two deep stab wounds to the throat before he stood and sheathed his knife.
"Bitch." Derek muttered, kicking the corpse as he looked around his rifle, didn't find it and resorted to using his sawn off shotgun, carrying it one handed, his other hand still hurting.
Stuck ahead of Derek not having realized that they'd left him behind Angelina, Daniel, and Jones were fighting off a group of raiders. Derek caught up in time to completely obliterate the face of a charging raider, however, the knife wielding man going down in a growing pile of bodies.
"Almost there." Daniel observed, taking a quick look around, "Run for it?"
"We have to." Angelina agreed, emptying her rifle into the last few visible raiders, reloading quickly as she stood and started to run.
Everyone followed her lead and somehow, either by luck or skill, managed to get clear of Girdershade and keep going. It was only then, running along behind Jones that Derek realized he was wearing a backpack that seemed to be filled to the brim with something or other. Derek didn't bother saying anything just yet, still too busy running from the all too close fighting, stray bullets flying wildly by.
"Where to now?" Derek panted as they finally found themselves far enough to stop and rest, looking back at the battle.
"Canterbury." Jones said evenly, adjusting the backpack he had been carrying, "If anyone else made it out they'll have to meet us there."
"Works for me." Angelina shrugged. turning to start heading back east, careful to watch the battle in the distance as she kept moving.
"This went about as well expected, huh?" Derek chuckled, "We eveng etting anyting out of this?"
"Indeed we did." Jones allowed himself a smile as he looked at Derek, motioning to the backpack he had, "Payment was made up front."
"At least something went right." Angelina mused.
Though she didn't like the idea of leaving Girdershade to burn, she hadn't after all left Derek so she could find Jones and run away, but rather to know where he was and keep him safe, and fight off the raiders as they had agreed. It wasn't a moral objection so much as a professional one as Angelina preferred not to go back on deals. It never ended well but Girdershade was well and truly lost and any sort of retreat was wiser than making a stand.
"Any idea our which way we're taking?"
"Yes," Jones nodded, gesturing to the landscape ahead of them in general, having taken the lead once again, "We're headed south first. Then we'll travel along the outskirts of downtown, follow it up and split off toward Megaton."
"I thought we were heading straight back?"
Jones shook his head vigorously, "No, no, I don't trust the path to be safe anymore."
"Works for me." Angelina shrugged, not minding the extra time spent getting back, so long as they got there, "You have this planned?"
"I like to be prepared." Jones nodded quickly, keeping up his steady pace, "It's how I got this far."
"Yeah, I can see that." Angelina nodded, keeping pace with Jones easily, pausing for a moment before adding, "Think anyone else made it?"
"Someone bit it with me when the raiders first showed up." Derek spoke up, "That's one down."
"Two were killed with me." Daniel added, "Saw the rest on our way out. They're dead."
"You are sure?"
"Sure as can be," Daniel nodded, "Beaten, bloody, and dead."
"Guess that solves that problem." Derek shrugged, "More for us."
"Always good." Angelina quickly agreed with a nod, looking around again, "Could do with some extra caps myself."
"Yeah." Daniel nodded, rather pleased with how things had turned out despite what had just happened, "So long as we make it outta this, I can't say I'm too upset about all that. No offense, Jones."
"None taken, I'll be able to recover my losses and still make a nice profit." Jones smirked, pausing before he added, "Perhaps we should have stayed though."
"No way, we agreed to help defend the place, we did. They were coming full force, no way we could've stopped them if we stayed." Derek shook his head, quick to shoot down the idea, "Even with a coupla doses of anger juice apiece we would've been no match."
"Perhaps." Jones nodded after a moment, starting to slow down as they put a good distance between them and Girdershade, "I would've rather had things go much more smoothly, but what is done is done."
"Fair enough." Derek shrugged, glancing over his shoulder, "Don't think we'll be making any return visits after this is all done and over with."
"It'll cause problems, yes." Jones nodded again, checking to make sure the revolver Derek had given him was still loaded, "But with the way things are going there will be another trading post set up. There's too many caps to be had, there'll be another Girdershade."
"If you say so." Derek shrugged.
"Canterbury'll probably fund it." Angelina observed, agreeing with Jones, "They're the ones benefitting from all of this the most."
"Yes, exactly, and with the way things've been going that won't cost them much. I may even be able to convince them to replace my lost caravan, but that's another matter."
"Good luck with that, they never struck me as the considerate types."
"They aren't, but I'm not one of the low level caravans." Jones smirked, "You don't get this far without planning things out and preparing for the worst."
"Very true." Angelina agreed, knowing exactly what he meant, it had been what had kept her alive all that time as a mercenary, "Let's just get back in one piece."
"Keep doing your job so well and we will. I knew I picked the right people for this."
The group fell silent once more as they continued moving south, still careful to make sure no one was following them, deciding to take another route back to Megaton and to rest there before moving on to Canterbury Commons. Before that however they would be making another stop to wait out the night and give the raiders time to get beaten back by Girdershade residents or to wipe everyone out and head back home - either way they would stay at the Dunwich building and see how things played out, laying low until they knew the area was safe. The isolated, out of the way and completely out of use building had been the subject of many rumors but none had ever been proven true or even credible. Whatever history the building had and the stories surrounding it, it would be their home for the night.
"Almost there now." Jones observed, watching the rapidly approaching building.
"Creepy as hell." Daniel murmured, following close behind everyone else, eyeing the building in the distance.
"C'mon, a little old building scares you?" Derek snorted, holding in a laugh, "No wonder I found you hiding back there."
"Fuck you, I was staying alive. There's a difference."
"Whatever you have to tell yourself, just don't get in the way when something else goes down."
"You two just might end up fighting each other before then." Jones shook his head, "Try and play nice until we make it back."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Derek mumbled, glaring at Daniel for a moment before directing his gaze back in front of him.
The group arrived at the building roughly an hour later and headed inside cautiously, not knowing what may be inside - possibly more raiders. They were common enough in the area to have possibly spread out and started other less populated, well known camps. The Dunwich building easily could have been one of them, even a rather large one, but as Angelina took the lead and swept the room with her assault rifle and kept moving further into the building she didn't find any signs of recent activity.
"Looks all clear... building's pretty big though." Angelina commented, keeping her rifle at down-ready, "It'll take a while to clear."
"Then I suppose you all should get started, I'll watch the entrance." Jones offered, gesturing for Derek to give him more ammo.
"All I brought for it." Derek handed it over and followed his other two companions further into the building.
The trio set about clearing the rest of the Dunwich building, or as much of it as they could, finding an area or two was blocked by collapsed roofs or locked doors they didn't bother to unlock. If they didn't hear anything on the other side - and they never did - they just kept moving. The further they ventured however, the more unnerved Daniel became, slowly at first until he felt out right uncomfortable. Things had already been severely messed up by the day's events, Tenpenny Tower was something they could recover from, Girdershade not so much; he could simply kill them all and make it back on his own, or disappear again. It wouldn't have been the first time Daniel had to cut and run, Rivet City, Tenpenny Tower, many other jobs that had gone to hell. It was simply the easiest way to handle things, he had done it before and knew he could make it back on his own - staying with them might just get him killed like it nearly had in Girdershade.
Derek himself was going through a very similar thought process as they continued sweeping the building room by room. It might have been even easier for him to jump to such a conclusion and actualyl carry it out considering his background. He had survived as long as he had by being violent and back stabbibg and being quicker to use treacherous violence than others around him. Even back then Derek had allies however, even if he couldn't truly trust them, and now he had only the people he had just met the other day. It would be far too easy to kill them al and make a run for it never to look back, Derek was already risking a horrible death at the hands of angry wastelanders for having been a raider, adding a couple more people to his body count would hardly matter.
"This place is empty." Derek kicked an empty Nuka Cola bottle sending it flying across the room before it hit a wall and stopped, "Let's just go back."
"You go." Angelina didn't bother to shake her head, still keeping her rifle at teh ready, "I'd rather not get my throat slit in the middle of the night."
"I can take care of that now if you want." Derek gestured to the knife on his belt, "Been a while since I hacked anyone's head off."
Angelina's face went entirely expressionless as she turned and took a step toward Derek, "What?"
"You heard me." Derek shrugged, "What, you've never gone at it with someone?"
"Plenty of times, that's just over the top. Completely unnecessary, pretty unprofessional."
"Yeah, whatever." Derek snroted, shrugging, "Good thing I'm not a professional then, huh?"
"No, you're a useless Megaton bum. Crawl back to your shit hole and let us handle things properly."
"Fuck you, I wasn't the one running off to 'find' anyone."
"Whatever, this isn't worth my time. Let's head back."
"That's what I said."
"It's a stupid idea when you say it." Angelina slung her rifle over he shoulder and started back to where Jones was on the first floor, waiting for them to return, "Because you don't know what you're talking about."
"And what makes you so fucking qualified?" Derek challenged,
"None of your business, that's what, you just need to know I am. Which, if you weren't so inept," Angelina turned around and approached Derek again, "You would realize."
"Play nice you two." Daniel smirked, shaking his head, "Jones wouldn't like this very much."
"Yeah, I guess not." Derek muttered, "Let's go."
The group started tracing their way through the building back to Jones, slowly, still careful not to let their guard down. They had checked as much of the building as they could but just like in downtown you could think you were alone one minute and literally bump into someone around the corner the next. Angelina didn't know how long it would end up taking them to get back to Canterbury but the sooner they got there the better; if it took much longer than they had planned she couldn't guarantee she wouldn't just shoot Derek. It sounded like a great idea even then and there though doing so would leave Angelina without any caps though once things went that far she could always just kill Jones and Daniel as well and make off with all the money. It wasn't a particularly appealing idea but Angelina didn't shy away from it all that much she simply preferred to keep her facade of proessionalism; professionalism that meant always finishing her jobs and not much else, anyone that got in the way was dealt with often violently, her jobs weren't much better than her methods often involving violence of varying degrees and extremely gray morality.
"You sure this was the way?" Derek asked after a moment.
"It all looks the same, how would you know?" Daniel challenged, taking a look around the spacious room they now found themselves in.
"Because I'm not an idiot."
"Sure had me fooleed." Angelina snorted, stopping in the middle of the room and turning to face her companions, "But if you're so sure you can take the lead."
"Think I wi-"
"No." Daniel cut him off quickly, "You're not leading us anywhere. We'll get back just fine. Building's only so big."
"Fine."
Angelina turned and started leading the group again completely ignoring what Derek had said, knowing she wash eaded the right way. She had nearly been turned around in the large, seemingly endless building filled with similar rooms but she had spent enough time in the ruins of downtown to know how to navigate any ruined building. Eventually they were almost back to where they had started when they suddenly heard hushed voices in the next room over and the entire group stopped dead in their tracks.
"No, not yet. You will stay, and you will listen, this is my plan. You will not ruin it."
"Shit... alright, just don't go getting cold feet. The guys back at Canterbury only backed up your little plan because they thought it'd work. You know what'll happen if it doesn't."
"Shit." Derek mumured, "This is some conspiracy shit..."
"Shut. Up." Angelina glared at him, but it was too late.
"What the hell was that?"
"Fuck." Angelina brought up her rifle as she backed away from the door way and let off a burst before anyone even came into sight, "Go!"
Derek didn't have to be told twice as he turned around and ran for the door they had just come through, shotgun in hand, though he left Angelina to deal with anyone who followed them for the moment. Daniel fired off a few rounds before turning and doing the same, Angelina not too far behind, the first men coming into the room just as they were leaving it. Whoever was following them quickly started shooting back as they chased the group to the next room, proving they were much more well armed, and there were many more of them, as several of them nearly hit Angelina before she dsiappeared into the next room.
"Keep going!" Angelina shotued as Derek reached the far end of the room, "For fuck's sake keep moving!"
As soon as Angelina had uttered those words one of the men chasing them took aim and let off a quick burst, one of the rounds catching her under her left shoulder blade. Angelina grunted as she stumbled, clenched her teeth and kept running as everyone else caught up and started shooting as well.
"You alright?" Daniel grabbed Angelina nad pulled her out of the doorway as she caught up with him and Derek.
"I'll be alright." Angelina managed through her clenched teeth, blood pouring down her back, staining her outfit dark red, "You?"
"Didn't get hit."
"Good enough. We can't keep running." A bullet passed through the wall next to Angelina's head barely prompting a response, "Have to pick them off."
"We'll find a better place to ambush 'em," Derek spoke up, "Come on, this room's too small."
"Yeah." Angelina nodded, gripping her rifle tightly as she blindly fired back at the men that were still shooting wildly at them as she began back pedaling.
Daniel fired off a couple shots of his own as he started to follow Derek down a broken section of the floor that had collapsed into the next room which was largelly barren and ruined just like the rest of the building.
"Go." Daniel stopped as he stepped around behind the fallen section of the floor, motioning for the other two to keep moving without him, "I'll be right there."
"Suit yourself." Derek shrugged and ducked into the next hallway and kept running with Angelina, looking for a suitable place to ambush the group.
Once Angelina and Derek were out of sight Daniel hurried out of the room and across the hall to the first room he found, shutting the doro behind him. He wasn't going to hang back and try to stall the group. They weren't worth it to him. Jones had betrayed them and all Daniel was concerned with was getting to him, getting his caps and getting out of there alive. Derek and Angelina could keep everyone else busy and die for all he cared, though he would eventually make sure everyone present would die, Daniel had clearly made a mistake all that time ago when he'd killed Doc Hoff and let Jones live. That was then and he had walked away once, likely having been the one to hire him and his partners to attack the convoy in the first place just like now, but Jones wouldn't be walking away a second tiime.
"What the hell happened?" Derek glanced over his shoulder, looking passed Angelina as he entered another room, not seeing anyone behind them as he stopped to catch his breath, "Fucker said he'd be right behind us."
"They might've caught him."
"No shooting? None at all? I doubt it. Rat bastard booked it."
"Might've." Angelina admitted, a pained look on her face as she panted, "We won't be getitng away so easily. I can hear them already."
"You good to fight?"
"Yeah." Angelina nodded, looking at Derek, "You?"
Derek simply nodded and the two took up positions watching the door they had used to enter the room as the sounds of the group chasing them drew closer. They still didn't know how many there were but they would soon find out and hoped it wouldn't be more than they could handle. Derek considered simply shooting Angelina who was already wounded and leaving her as Daniel had done to both of them, but hesitated, and eventually pushed the thought out of his mind as it only served to distract him as the group drew closer. Angelina on the other hand was almost entirely focused on the doorway, resting against the large chunk of debris she had hid behind, keeping rifle rifle steadily aimed at chest height. She glanced in Derek's direction without turning her head a few times but remained largely focused on the matter at hand. Whatever had happeneed, whoever was responsible, she wasn't going to die there, everyone else would though.
"In here."
"Go."
The first man rushed into the room and was gunned down by Angelina before he could even spot her or Derek, his momentum carrying him as his legs gave out and he went tumnling across the floor. The next man in line was a bit luckier as Angelina quickly adjusted her aim, only firing once he got a single, wide shot off - Derek caught him in the side of the head with his first shot as well adn down he went in a bloody clump of flesh and armor.
"Shit shit shit." No one else entered the room allowing Derek enough time to replace his spent round.
Angelina kept her teeth clenched, angrily staring at the door, ffeeling warm blood flowing down her back too freely for comfort as she kept watch. She didn't know how many more of them there were but if they were foolish enough to be gunned down that easily she reasoned they wouldn't pose too much of a threat beyond their numbers.
"Drop your guns and I might let you live!" Angelina called out, panting, "Better than ending up like your friends here!"
No reply. Angelina could barely make out the sonds of several people shuffling around trying to find a way to flank them, remaining out of sight.
"You good?" Angelina's eyes shot to Derek then back at the door.
"Just fine. You?"
"Yeah." Angelina nodded, still breathing heavily, "I'm fine."
"If you say so." Derek shrugged and kept his shotgun trained on the door, if anyone else came in they would likely go down just as quickly.
The one thing they hadn't expected however was that the group was much more well equipped than most and weren't planning on coming in through the door. The explosives they'd planted on the wall on either side of the door detonated and blew large holes right through them as if they weren't there at all. Derek fell over confused and screaming expletives at the top of his lungs, firing wildly at the hole in the wall, as did Angelina who was slightly closer to her wall and was thrown to the floor a bit more violently. The group rushed into the room, none of them injured as their targets fell over and started shooting blindly, and quickly stated beating them severely as the two were disarmed.
"C'mon, let's get 'em back to Jones." One of the men commaned, kicking Angelina in her stomach as she was pulled up onto her knees, hands tied behind her back, "See if he still wants to get rid of these fuckers."
Protesting and struggling as much as possible the two were dragged through the building back toward the front door, Angelina causing enough of a problem that two men had to grab her legs and carry her from behind instead of leading her around, the same eventually being done for Derek. Carried back struggling as much as they could manage to - which wasn't very much at all - Derek and Angelina were more properly restrained and left on their knees where Jones was now waiting for them.
"Ah, wonderful, glad to see you two could join us once again." Jones forced a smile, gesturing to Daniel beside him, "Daniel here was kind enough to give you up. It seems we have some historyI wasn't aware of."
"Do we really need to do thise whole speech thing? Can't we just shoot 'em?"
"I suppose." Jones shrugged, glancing from Daniel to Derek and Angelina, "Just thought they deserved an expanation. Deserve at least that much for all their help."
"Fuck off." Derek mumbled through all the blood flowing from his lips, glaring at Jones.
"I'd rather not, not just yet." Jones tooka step or two toward his captives, "But first I think I'll indulge a little, I don't get many opportunities to brag. Most of this has to be kept a secret, after all."
"Yeah? What exactly is 'this'?" Angelina looked up at Jones, her face in just as bad of condition as Derek's, still bleeding from herr back wound as well, "Stealing all of the money and losing your caravan, that's some sorta plan?"
Jones sighed heavily, crouching so that they were eye level, "I never learn to stop expecting people to understand. I always overestimate the abilities of others, I suppose. No, you see, it starts before losing the caravan and stealing all these caps."
"Well don't let me stop you." Angelina felt the barrel of the gun kept to the back of her head brush against her lightly, "Sounds like a good story."
"Well now, it all starts several years ago. As you know, I used to work with Doc Hoff. Things went well enough, but my mentor had no clue just how expansive and profitable his business could be. I saw that potential. So I killed him and took over, as it just so happens Daniel here was one of the men that I'd hired to attack the caravan, I 'escaped' and hunted them all down. Except for Daniel. Turns out that was a stroke of wonderful luck. Since then I've been doing all I can to get over on everyone else, slowly but surely building my empire across this whole wretched wasteland."
"What about Canterbury?" Angelina tried to hide her pain as she winced, speaking starting to hurt, he gun shot wound still more than painful, and her fresher wounds were starting to prove difficult to handle as well, "They said something about someone in Canterbury."
"I'm glad you asked." Jones smirked, "You see, Angelina, as skilled as I am I simply can not pull this off on my own. That is why these men are here. Some of them are from Canterbury, some of them are raiders paid off to assist us in this little plan."
Jones pause for a moment, entirely for dramatic effect, "But as for the men in Canterbury, they are simply local investors. A caravan doesn't simply become successful by being good at what it does. You need someone backing you. These men are my investors. They provide the money, I provide the plans, these men here help carry it out."
"Sounds like something I wouldn't mind getting in on." Derek chuckled for a second, stopping when the pain his wounds caused him flared up, "Guess it's too late for that."
"Afraid so." Jones stood up and produced the revolver Derek had given him, "It really is too bad, your friends in Evergreen Mills told me great things about you."
"You're a fucking raider?" Angelina's face contorted in pure rage, spitting blood on Derek, "You son of a bitch!"
"My my, it seems she's ready to kill you for us. How forgetful of me, I didn't even tell you about each other's history, did I? You see, Derek here, he used to be a raider before having a sudden change of heart and deciding he as better off sitting around Megaton all day. And, Derek, Angelina here has had a very bad personal experience with raiders."
Jones slowly stood back up, "Of course, that doesn't mean much now."
With that he quickly raised Derek's revolver and shot three of his men, two in the head, killing them instantly as the forty four round completely wrecked what little of a brain the raiders had and splattered it all over the nearby wall. The third man was not so lucky and had taken his round to the throat and rolled around gasping for air and coughing up blood for a moment beside Angelina before he stoppeed moving completely.
"Can't have too many people knowing about this, huh?" Derek muttered
"No one outside of Canterbury at any rate." Jones agreed, "Too bad, too. Could've used them some other time."
"Could've." Derek agreed.
As Jones swung the revolver to shoot Derek he got to his feet suddenly and lunged at Jones, knife in hand, taking a forty four to the lower abdomen as he plunged the knife into Jones' rib cage and they fell to the floor wrestling with each other. Angelina stood and backed up into the man behind her slamming him against the wall before throwing her head back into his nose,letting him slide to the floor in pain as she tackled the other gunman, hands still behind her back. Daniel, unable to react without possibly shooting his own men, charged Derek and kicked him off of Jones - earning a knife through his shin for his effort.
"Asshole." Derek forced himself up onto his feet and tackled Daniel who dropped his gun and began wrestling with Derek, fighting for control of the knife he still held, literally soaked in his own blood.
Somehow managing to get her hands untied as she knocked down the last man Angelina forced herself up to her feet despite her several wounds of varying severity and brought her booted foot down on his head as he tried to get up, not stopping at the first blow, knocking him out with three more. During all of this Jones grabbed his side, having dropped the revolver, and began struggling to drag himself toward the door and started to stand as he braced himself against the wall. Angelina hadn't noticed, far too busy with going back to the other man she'd attacked who was now grabbing his gun with one hand, holding his bleeding, broken nose with the other.
"Stay. Down." Angelina kicked the side of the man's knee dropping him to the floor agian, punching him in his broke nose as soon as he went down and continuing to pummel him until he stopped fighting back.
By this time Jones had regained his senses and, one hand still holding his bleeding wound, retrieved a small .45 pistol he'd taken to carrying. Angelina turned in time to take three rounds to her amor knocking her flat on her back, groaning in pain as Jones turned and stumbled out of the building. Derek and Daniel were still struggling over the knife, Daniel now on top of Derek and starting to take control of the situation, Derek's gun shot wound paining him too much to fight effectively. Angelina rolled over and forced herself back to her feet slowly, noting that none of Jones' shot had pierced her armor before stumbling over to Daniel and kicking him off of Derek; she didn't bother sticking around to see what happened as she turned and headed for the door, throwing it open and following Jones as he stumbled away from the building leaving a large trail of blood.
"Come back here you fucker." Angelina grunted, every step painful and labored, the gun shot wound in her back sending out endless waves of agony as she chased after Jones at a rather slow pace.
"You should just stay dead." Jones groaned, almost doubling over in pain as he turned around and barely managed to raise his pistol, wildly firing off two shots that both missed by a mile, "You... you don't have much at all to live for, anymore."
"Fu- fuck you!" Angelina panted as she stumbled along after Jones, intent on wrapping her hands around his neck and watch the life slowly fade from his eyes as he died a satisfyingly slow and painful death.
Jones didn't reply as he simply kept running or rather kept stumbling along in the most agonizing pain he'd ever experienced in his entire life. He could hardly shoot straight and would've been amazed that he hit Angelina at all had he not been far too busy worrying about bleeding out or being caught before that could occure. Jones had known who he was dealing with, knew they were more than capable of doing what he needed done, all his careful planning had been ruined all by two people. He wouldn't allow it. Jones had never failed before and refused to now. Gritting his teeth, hand at his side absolutely soaked in blood, Jones reached around and emptied his pistol wildly in Angelina's direction without stopping nor did he stop to reload as he kept running from Angelina who started closing in as Jones found himself much more fatigued before her.
While the two of them were playing cat and mouse Derek and Daniel were still struggling to see who would make it out of the Dunwich building alive, the weakened Derek struggling to keep Daniel from carving him up with his own knife.
"Get up you useless bastards and help me kill this little shit." Daniel looked off to the side at the two incapacitated men Jones had left behind, fighting to force Derek's knife into his throat.
It was that second of distraction that cost Daniel as Derek grabbed a nearby Nuka Cola bottle by the neck and brought it against the side of his head, completely catching Daniel off guard. Derek struck the stunned traitor again and rolled over tossing him to the floor, pinning his hand with the knife to the floor and striking him twice more before he slowly got to his feet and sumbled over to Daniel's 10mm. Before Daniel could regain his senses and get back to his feet again Derek had executed his partners. Derek turned to finish off Daniel as well but the injured man was already up on his feet and coming right for him; they both grabbed each other's wrist and fought to keep the other from using their weapon. Despite the pain from his wound Derek managed to bring his knee up into Daniel's stomach and pushed him over onto the ground, regaining his knife.
"So long, asshole." Derek went to shoot Daniel only to find the gun had two rounds left which struck Daniel in the stomach.
Watching Daniel curl up and start groaning in pain, rolling around on the floor as a pool of his bown blood started to form Derek couldn't help but go in for the killing blow. Waiting around to watch him bleed out would take far too long, though the pain caused by such a death would be extremely satisfying, and he couldn't simply leave Daniel there to possibly survive. Derk sheathed his knife and strode over to Daniel, straddling the injured man who barely managed to fight back as Daniel began pummeling him with strikes to the face, neck and chest, quickly becoming winded and pained due to his fresh wound but continuing without any thought for whatever damage he might end up doing to himself. The sound of his fist meeting Daniel's face and his head bouncing off the floor was sickly satisfying in the most brutally primal way; Derek grabbed Daniel's head and started simply slamming it against the floor watching as he started to bleed, his eyes going blank, nearly knocked out and unaware of what was going on. Derek barely restrained himself, panting as he finally stopped and sat atop Daniel, the two men bleeding all over themselves and each other.
"Shouldn't have sided with the Doc." Derek wheezed, "Glad you did though. Wanted to do this as soon as I met you."
Derek drew his combat knife once more and thrust it into Daniel's neck several times before slowly getting to his feet and sheathing the weapon again.
"Shit." Derek looked around, dropping Daniel's gun and looking around, "Where'd they go now?"
Derek gritted his teeth as he bent over to retrieve his sawn off shotgun and headed out the door, barely able to walk, blood already starting to cover his hand as he kept pressure on his wound. It wasn't the first time Derek had been shot but it always hurt no matter what any wannabe tough guy had to say about it, and being shot with his own gun wounded his pride as well. Stumbling out into the bright sunlight Derek squinted and took a look around, spotting what had to have been Angelina and Jones in the distance to the north east; he quickly decided that was where he wanted to go as well. He could wrap things up with the deaths of Jones and Angelina - what he would do then Derek couldn't be bothered contemplating at the moment.
As Derek slowly started trying to catch up Angelina found herself stumbling and falling to her knees, unable to stay up right. She started crawling after Jones, reaching out to grab him thoug he was too far, but simply could not keep going. She'd been shot, beaten senseless, and shot a few more times; none of the last three shots had penetrated her armor but it hurt more than most would think. As Angelina kept crawling along evnetually she found herself crawling, draging herself across the ground until Jones started putting distance between them as he kept stumbling along.
"Son of a bitch." Angelina manged as she finally let her head hit the ground, almost unable to move.
Not long after Jones disappeared from her sight Derek came stumbling along, hesitating as he reached Angelina, unsure if he should just shoot her or help her up and use her to get to Jones.
"You look like shit." Derek grunted, holding his wound with his free hand still, "You gonna let him get away that easily."
"You don't look so good yourself." Angelina rolled over, pulling a push dagger from her boot, refusing to be unarmed around Derek, "But if you insist on being an ass about it go catch up wih him."
"Yeah, whatever." Derek held out his hand, "And have to explain everything on my own? I don't think so."
"Whatever." Angelina groaned as she ignored Derek and forced herself to stand up on her own, wobbling as she got back to her feet, "Lead the way. You've got the gun and all."
Derek eyed Angelina for a moment, neither of them willing to turn their back on the other but unable to accurately gauge whether or not an attack would be successful. They both knew every second wasted was another second Jones used to get further and further away. Neither of them moved still, unwilling to break the stalemate.
"Well?" Derek croaked.
"Let's go." Angelina barely managed to gesture for Derek to take the lead.
Derek hesitantly took the lead deciding he could take Angelina if anything happened and that he needed her for the time being though he wasn't sure either of them would make it very far in their current state. Whatever was to become of them Derek kept going, moving as quickly as he could, Angelina stumbling along behind him ready to fall over at any moment. She had to keep moving however and somehow found the ability to do so though she grew pale and felt like her insides were being torn apart. Jones was going to die and then Derek likely would as well and then Angelina might let herself die, but only then.
"There." Angelina barely managed to speaking, spotting Jones in the distance, slumped against a rock, apparently still alive and kicking, "There..."
"Yeah I seem 'im." Derek nodded, almost out of breath himself, blood starting to cover his entire lower half, "Gotta get closer."
Angeilna didn't answer, unsure if she even could if she wanted to, and simply kept walking. Jones had his side to them and was apparently unaware of the approaching pair of vengeful caravaneers; caught up in the new and totally overwhelming sensation of being stabbed Jones was in his own world, eyes closed, rolling his head all over, trying to keep pressure on his wound. Jones had never failed to do what he'd set out to do which was also a new sensation, one that cut deeply into his sizeable ego, made all that much worse by the fact that this had been his biggest plan to date. It had all been ruined by a filthy raider and a vengeful mercenary, two worthless wasteland wanderers that had no right to interfer with his take over; no right to stop him from building his mercantile empire across the wasteland. Jones had definitely never felt remorse over what he had done, it had always been purely personal, but at the same time if he had succeded it would've benefited the entire area in ways these two could never imagine, his absolute control over local trade wouldn't change that. Someone had to be in control and Jones had never met a man more fit for the job than himself. Jones wouldn't let those two worthless vermin ruin his plans, he would make it back to Canterbury and have them killed; his conspirators would know the truth but everyone else would be told it had been Derek and Angelina who had destroyed the caravan and they would both be killed.
"Almost there." Derek grunted, starting to barely lift his feet as he kept shuffling along, drawing closer to the barely concious Jones, trying to decide whether he wanted to stab him a few dozen times or simply mangle his head with his shotgun.
Finally after what had literally seemed like an eternity the wounded pair reached Doc Jones who barely noticed them, lifting his head after a moment an opening his eyes, staring up at them. After a moment of perfect silence Angelina lunged forward knocking Jones over and sitting on top of him as she started swinging, punching him with one hand as the push dagger in her other hand pierced his throat, face and upper chest with every other blow. Derek joined in after a moment, starting to kick Jones whenever he had an opening, even striking him across the head with his shotgun a few times. By the time the assault was over Jones lay bleeding all over himself either dead or extremely close to it, bruises and deep puncture wounds all over. As Angelina slowly got off of him Derek leaned forward and pressed his gun against Jones' head, pulled the trigger and destroyed most of his head.
"That's over with." Derek swayed where he stood, turning to face Angelin as he regained his balance.
Angelina simply clenched her teeth and swung at Derek who barely had a chance to back pedal and shoot Angelina in her leg before she planted her knife in his throat and they both fell over tumbling over each other once or twice before coming to a rest next to each other. Derek choked on his blood, hands around his throat, blood soaking his shirt as it poured out in steady streams. Angelina barely managed to, from her prone position, turn her head to face Derek and watch the pained expression on his face as he barely managed to squirm around in pain, staring up at the sky as he quickly bled to death. With Derek now dead Angelina found herself unable to move, having been shot in her left leg which was now mangled beyond belief though she couldn't tell quite how bad the damage was just yet. Angelina couldn't tell very much as she lay there in the most intense pain she had experienced in a while. Jones, Derek and everyone else were all dead. If she died along with them she wouldn't mind. The caravan's journey was over; if her miserable life in the wasteland was over as well that would be just fine.
Angelina slowly came to in a fatigue and chem induced haze, completely disoriented and unsure of what had happened or where she was - it certainly wasn't where she had been, that much she eventually determined after a few foggy moments.
"She's awake." Someone Angelina could barely make out stood and approached the bed she was layingi n, "Almost didn't think she'd snap out of it."
"She almost didn't, we barely got there in time." Someone else spoke, appearing at the person's side, "And she's lucky we had the supplies to help here. THings haven't been going too well."
"Yeah well it's not like we could've just left here there now is it?"
"You're right, I know, it's just hard to keep up with our own problems. Esepcially since everything went to hell. We should've never come out here."
"Alright," The woman sighed, shaking her head as she looked back at Angelina, "Either way she's doing better."
"Yeah..." The woman stared at Angelina for a moment, "Try and relax, don't try talking before you're ready - and don't worry about how you feel. That's just the chems. Had to dose you up to the eyeballs."
"Y-yeah..." Angelina croaked, her voice low and hoars, starting to recognize the all too familiar feeling of Med-X, warm and calming, perfectly content to just lay there all day doing nothing at all.
The woman smiled and nodded, "We'll be right here, just in case you need something, when you feel better."
Angelina watched as the man and woman stepped back off to where they had been to one side of the room and went back to work; it was then that she took a look around herself and Angelina realized she was in some sort of infirmary and it looked like it was in a pretty well taken care of building - it looked almost brand new. It had to have been a military installation before the war she reasoned through the fog of her chem induced stupor, one that had been taken care of very well since then to boot. Whoever these people were they were likely well equipped and knowledgeable. Several minutes later, however, as she kept pondering all the thoughts swimming around her head, Angelina fell asleep again.
It was an hour before Angelina woke again and found she was still in the same room and with the same two unknown people dressed in what had become as wasteland doctor fatigues. Whoever they were she certainly owed them her life but Angelina still couldn't quite think straight enough to worry about that.
"Feeling any bed?" The woman stood beside Angelina, smiling slightly as she looked down at her patient.
"Yeah." Angelina managed after a moment, staring up at the woman, "A little."
"Well, good." She smiled a bit more, "I'm glad. Jim, she's talking now."
"What? Great." The man stood from his seat at a desk and turned to join them, "Good. thought it'd take a little longer, you're doing great."
"How long since?"
"Only two days." The man shook his head, "You were out for most of the first."
Angelina slowly nodded, eyeing both of them, asking slowly, "Where are we?"
"Somewhere safe." The man reassured her with an ever so slight smile, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."
"Where?" Angelina demanded, weakly balling her fists, "Are we?"
"if you're going to be like that I won't tell you at all then." The man shrugged, his face going completely blank, "We'll just let you out when you're ready and lock the door."
"Fine." Angelina muttered, still clenching her fists as tightly as she could manage, her face remaining oddly calm, still dosed up to the eyeballs on Med-X.
The woman shook her head, "Jim's just a hot head, ignore him. We've been pretty stressed out lately. Things haven't been going so well around here for us, we... we came out here with a few other people."
"Don't tell her that!" Jim snapped, "Who knows who she is?"
"Fine, we don't know that, but what does it matter? It's not like telling her anything could hurt after bringing her here. And it's not like that was wrong either. Everyone else is gone but that doesn't mean we don't have work to do."
"Yeah, I suppose."Jim shrugged, still looking rather angry, "We should just go back. It'll take us forever to do this with just two of us."
"We can't now, we have to stay until she gets better."
"Whatever." Jim sighed, "Alright, but only until then. We need to go back and regroup. Find someone else to help us."
"With what?" Angelina croaked, her voice still low, raspy and a bit weak.
The woman hesitated, looking at her partner then back at Angelina, "We've been doing some research around the wasteland. Mostly stuff related to Project Purity and similar interests... that's where we are - the old purifier."
"Fixing it?"s
"No," The woman shook her head quickly, "No, not quite... mostly research, trying to figure out where it went wrong. Checking on some other things as well."
"At least we were 'til our team got wiped out." Jim interrupted, still looking rather angry, "No reason at all. Fucking riots in Rivet City again."
"Again?" Angelina shook her head slowly, "Why?"
"Who knows, the Brotherhood's leaving, retreating and abandoning any efforts that weren't paying off. Rivet City was nothing to them, they couldn't maintain their position there. We got caught up in that and a bunch of other stuff, another riot kicked off and spilled out into the surrounding area as we were passing by."
"Shit." Angelina murmured almost inaudibly, not quite having expected something like that agian so soon, "How bad?"
"Pretty bad, we've ben barricaded in here for the whole time. We found you out in the middle of nowhere, took care of you and brought you with us. Figured we could help you more here before we started looking into the purifier."
"Didn't work." Angelina grumbled, "Any idea how it is... out there?"
"Not really. We showed up as the whole thing spilled out into the wasteland, almost got caught up in it, ran back this way and barricaded ourselves in a storage room. Found it turned into an infirmary already, the whole place pretty fortified. Guess it's left overs from before. They really turned this place into a fortress."
"Good." Angelina nodded, trying to think for a moment, "Weapons?"
"Not much." She admitted, looking to Jim who held up his 10mm pistol, "Couple of SMG's too, that's it... and your rifle."
"Good enough. When can I go?"
"Soon, though your leg is pretty messed up. You should stay here." The woman insisted, "You... seem to know what you're doing, no matter what happened out there you're definitely more capable than either of us. Just stay, get better, and we'll all leave when things calm down."
"I have to go." Angelina spoke slowly, deliberately, attempting to get across how important it was that she left as soon as possible, "It's... important."
"Alright." She sighed, "Jim?"
"Fine by me." Jim shrugged, "Don't know how well it'll work out but we can't keep anyone here with us."
"So you keep saying." Angelina managed, looking up at him, "Get me outta this bed... gimme my gun... I'll be fine."
"You're welcome to go now if you insist." Jim grabbed Angelina's rifle and laid it across her lap despite his partner's protests, "I didn't like having to take you with us. I knew you were trouble. Everyone always is."
"You're no fucking prize yourself." Angelina forced herself to sit up completely in her bed and threw her legs over the side, grabbing her rifle as she did so.
"No, no, please!"
"Let her go!"
"I... Jim... fine."
"Move." Angelina batted them out of the way as she got otu of her bed and almost collapsed, having to put more weight on her uninjured leg to stay up right, "Stay here if you want, I have to go."
"Just go, before Carol starts begging you to stay."
"Fuck you." Angelina started walking, an obvious limp in her step though walking didn't her as much as she expected, thanks to the Med-X still taking effect.
Angelina made her way out of the building with Jim Carol following close behind, all three of them carrying guns though the once again active sentry guns would have likely stopped any intruders; though they were capable of taking down any one given person Angelina doubted they would last against any group of rioters outside that were determined to get inside, did so, and then started attacking the turrets. Whatever happened there was none of her concern. If some bleeding heart half baked wasteland researchers trying to save the world like Moira Brown and her ilk wanted to stay behind and eventually be trapped in their hopeless dream and killed it was none of her business. They might very well have saved her but Angelina had lost her payment for Jones' caravan, was horribly injured, and now had to endure wasteland life even longer - something she had quickly learned to despise despite never being able to bring herself to eat a bullet, overdose or otherwise obliterate her horrendous existence, a stain upon the larger stain on the world that was the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
"Sounds like they're still going at it. Have fun out there." Jim muttered as they approached the exit, firmly secured and still standing up to the riots going on outside.
"More fun than you'll have when they finally get in here." Angelina smirked, "Have fun with that. Asshole."
The sealed main entrance opened and all Angelina could hear was shouting and shooting, nothing new to her, finding someone beating someone else senseless with a baseball bat right in front of the door. Angelina didn't hesitate to put a bullet in the bat wielding woman's head before she realized anyone was there. Angelina limped along as fast as she could to the edge of the walkway and took a quick look around, chaos all around just as there had been at Girdershade except on a far greater level.
"Shit... shit..." Angelina muttered as she took aim and put down another Rivet City resident, this one beating a security officer with a pipe, now realizing her decision may have been a bad one after all.
The purifier was once again sealed off however and Angelina had no choice now but to keep going and so she did, mostly left alone as she limped along save for a few security guards that had to be put down. Apparently the rioters were too busy attacking the security force and destroying as much as they could to bother Angelina - who probably looked like another one of them as she stumbled around shooting guards which suited her just fine. The fewer people that bothered the barely recovered Angelina the better; those who did would be dealt with same as usual, if only a little more slowly. In the distance as she stepped over a couple of bodies Angelina could see Rivet City going up in flames as well, though the bridge had been retracted the riot had started from within and was still going strong. Angelina simply ignored all of this and kept walking starting to head north along teh coast instead of heading deeper into downtown, intending to head to Megaton, replace her lost supplies and then head for Canterbury Commons. The entire caravan was wiped out but Angelina still had a few Canterbury big shots to deal with who had essentially been behind the entire thing, once they were dead Angelina wasn't entirely sure what she would do.
After a few moments Angelina was drawing further and further away from the riots which now focused on the Jefferson Memorial and the purifier housed within, Jim and Carol's fate sealed now that they were surrounded. Angelina didn't know or care what they planned to do, their foolish attempts to save the wasteland had brought them there, if they couldn't adapt and survive then that was on them. Angelina had already learne how to do that and now that useful skill would get her through her quest for revenge. Not at all concerned with the spreading chaos and the destruction it would surely cause Angelina kept soldiering through it all, her body not nearly ready to be moving like it was but eventually Angelina had made it far enough that the gunshots and screams of pain and misery had started dying out and sounding distant, almost in another world. An hour or so later and Angelina was approaching the rear entrance to what had once been known as Dukov's Place, the sign long having been destroyed once it's owner had allegedly been killed by the Lone Wanderer, the legitimacy of such claims being heavily disputed among the wasteland. For many the location had become a safe stop along the way to and from Rivet City, the unwritten rules being that anyone that messed with the shared safehouse would be found and hurt, badly. It had served Angelina well once or twice before but she had avoided using it to avoid having to deal with other people but now she had no choice. If Angelina didn't find somewhere to rest she was going to collapse again and as much as she wanted to keep going without stopping to rest Angelina was thinking a bit more clearly, the Med-X starting to wear off, leaving only fatigue in its place.
"God." Angelina held her head in both hands as she slumped against a wall and slid to the floor, cradling her head, elbows on her knees, "Shit... feel like shit."
Angelina knew it was an understatement but wasn't feeling the full effects of her injuries and general fatigue just yet and didn't plan to if it was at all avoidable - and it was. Fumbling around for a moment until she finally got her pack off of her back Angelina rifled through it for a moment before finding what she had been looking for. The large syringe full of red liquid would instantly be known to anyone in the wasteland as Psycho, the drug of choice of many raiders, and more common among their ranks than in any other wasteland society, perhaps because of its energetic uplifting qualities which allowed one to flip out and fly into a violent frenzy that was nearly unstoppable. Perhaps its association with raider was what had kept Angelina from partaking outside of when she absolutely had to, preferring other chems, now however Angelina definitely needed Psycho if she was going to pull herself together and make it all the way to Megaton without stopping or keeling over.
Angelina carefully inserted the needle into her arm and took all of the Psycho knowing it was a safe dose even for someone with as low a tolerance as hers. It didn't take very long for the Psycho to take effect, another upside to the powerful chem and Angelina could feel it coming on, the sudden distinct rush that nothing else came close to. Suddenly she was lively, energetic and ready to take on the world, unable to sit still Angelina was already back on her feet, throwing her pack onto her back and grabbing her rifle to begin her journey anew. Angelina left Dukov's Plae, her ever so brief visit over she haded north alone the water front, intending to follow it as far north as possible before heading off toward Megaton. Angelina's trip proved rather uneventful as she hurriedly made her way along the ruined coast not running into a single person, suspecting perhaps word had gotten out about what had happened abck west, or to the south, and everyone was on edge and Angelina couldn't say whether or not that was true as she had ben out cold for a while and had apparently missed much in that time. Whatever the case Angelina didn't care to talk to anyone on the way to or from Megaton or even once she was in the city itself, not anymore than she had to at any rate and she was already starting to formulate a plan as she ran along, Psycho still keeping her going.
Some time after starting her journey to Megaton Angelina was finally approaching the city's entrance, starting t run again as she drew closer, slowing down only as she reached the city so that the lone guard above the entrance didn't open fire but quickly made her way inside without speaking a word to him or anyone else as she made her way into the city, taking a quick look around, not caring whether or not they noticed she was clearly not sober - more than once the trigger happy sherrif had put down chem soaked crazies in the streets of Megaton. That was exactly who Angelina went looking for as it just so happened, barely stopping to ask someone if they had seen him before marching off to Moriarty's where he was apparently handling a drunken brawl that not even Moriarty himself had managed to sort out. By the time Angelina got there Lucas Simms had already sorted things out, taking the opportunity to remind everyone who the law was around there, and Angelina confronted him outside of the bar, telling him she needed to speak with him about something urgent somewhere they would have some privacy - and Lucas lead her back to his place, which had come to act as an office when need be.
It was at Simms' house that Angelina trained her rifle on him and demanded that he disarm watching carefully as he set his rifle down on the flor along with a pistol and knife, slinging the rifle over her shoulder, tucking the pistol into her belt and simply kicking the knife away, not having room for it she demanded ammo and received plenty of it for both weapons before putting a single round through his skull and made her way back outside as calmly as ever, everyone confused as to where the gun shot came from exactly due to its muffled nature Angelina played the part of confused citizen until making it outside and making a break for it, taking off full tilt withotu worrying about Stockholm spotting her or alerting anyone - she would be long gone by the time they got outside let alone did anything about it. If anyone even came close to catching her Angelina would gladly kill them just as she had Simms, they were nothing to here and they certainly wouldn't stand between hr and Canterbury Commons. Angelina was going to make it, she had all she could carry and all that mattered, weapons and ammo - anything else she wasn't carrying in her pack already could be scrounged up along the way if necessary.
"Gotta make it." Angelina murmured to herself ignoring the angry shouting she was leaving in the distance as people scrambled to get out of Megaton and catch up with her.
Taking her pack off and rifling through it as she kept jogging Angelina dug out another dose of Psycho, her last dose hadn't worn off completely but it was going quickly, stopping only briefly enough to take it Angelina dropped the empty syringe and kept moving now re-energized and ready to finish her trip to Canterbury Commons. Once she got there Angelina wasn't entirelyl sure how she would find out who was behind Jones' scheme or how she would deal with them just that she would, and once that was taken care of she would likely have to leave, something she wasn't eager to do but would regardless; there was nothing to stay for in the area other than her established contacts that she regularly worked for, but work such as hers could easily be found elsewhere. It wasn't much of a plan but it would have to be enough, if it didn't work out Angelina would be dead and unable to worry about it.
"Roe." Angelina decided aloud, knowing if there was anyone she could press for information it was him, the man that still ran Canterbury, "Roe..."
If Angelina could get to Ernest "Uncle" Roe then she knew she could easily make him talk, and he would likely know all about whatever was going on, a man in his position didn't stay there very long unless they were very dim witted or very cooperative - most were the latter. Roe definitely wasn't the type to be able t stand up to a gun in his face let alone much physical pain either, Angelina had met the man on a few occasions, having regularly worked in Canterbury Commons for a while now - he would fold quickly. Several hours later Angelina, still barely functioning as she started to come down off of the Psycho she had taken, practically stumbled into the city limits. No one seemed to be around but Angelina didn't stop, continuing further into the city ignoring the stares she received as she found the main strip in the city center as busy as ever, several caravans coming or going.
"Roe." Angelina stated simply, her voice hoarse and cracking, barely able to speak, "Roe. Now."
"Who the hell's asking for 'em?" Someone stepped forward, rifle in hand, ready to aim it in her direction until he realized who he was talking to, "Angelina? Shit - you look like shit."
"ROE." Angelina repeated her demand more forcefully, taking a couple of steps forward, "It's important... have to talk to him."
The guard nodded, "He's in his office. Everybody clear out, nothing to see here!"
Angelina shuffled down the road and passed the small crowd as the city guards kept everyone moving along, confused as to what she was there for especially in such bad condition, but knew better than to ask - at least before she had finished talking to Roe. After that they would insist on medical treatment, knowing only then would Angelina stop being stubborn enough to accept. For now they let her go on her way as Angelina slowly trudged her way into the proper building and practically collapsed into a chair in front of Roe's desk before he could speak, completely awe struck at the sight of her.
"What the hell happened?" Roe practically demanded, slowly standing up and walking around his desk to take a better look at her, "Where's everyone else? Weren't you with Jones?"
"Yeah." Angelina nodded, struggling to take her pack off and drop it on the floor, keeping her rifle across her lap as she eyed Roe wearily, between exhausted and suspicious, "Everyone... they're dead - raiders. Raiders got everyone."
"Shit." Roe breathed, looking her over, "You alright? You look ready to keel over."
"Fine." Angelina waved him off, "I need to talk... about Jones."
"What about him?" Roe furrowed his brow, returning to his seat.
"What... what was he doing?" Angelina slowly shifted the rifle in her lap, pointing it at Roe without him noticing, "He said... something about working with someone here. Causing problems... something to do with dominating the market here, and causing problems out there to drive up his prices."
"I... Jones? You're sure?"
Angelina nodded slowly, keeping her eyes and rifle trained on Roe behind his desk, "He said exactly that. Said some group or another was funding him. Wanted in on it."
"Shit... that's... you know who it was? I mean I knw who was investing in his caravan, but anyone else? Was it just them? Someone else entirely?"
"No. No clue." Angelina shook her head weakly, "Didn't get into specifics... decided to let me in on things, wanted to bring me aboard - thought I should know."
"And?" Roe's face went pale, eyeing Angelina, waiting for answer.
"Nothing." Angelina managed a shrug as she struggled to string together coherent thoughts and turn them into sentences that were equally coherent, "Raiders. They were all dead before I could even figure out what was happening."
"Oh... well, why don't you stay here - usual room, if you want. Free as always, you do far too much to charge, especially in the shape you're in. I'd feel like I was stealing."
"It's alright." Angelina used her rifle to help her rise from her seat, holding up her hand to keep Roe from doing the same, "What isn't, though, is that you were in on it you son of a bitch."
"What? Wait, wait! Angelina!" Roe shouted as he started to rise.
"Who was it?" Angelina demanded, taking a step forward as she shouldered her rifle, struggling to keep it there and pointing right at Roe's chest, "Names. Now. All of them, damn it."
"Hold on! Hold on! Chirst!" Roe backed away slightly, turning to face a safe he'd installed in the wall, "They're all right here, alright?"
Angelina waited with what passed for patience given the situation and watched as Roe fumbled with the safe and failed to unlock it twice before he finally threw open the heavy door and grabbed a set of documents, nervously handing tem over to Angelina before backing away in a panic.
"Where are they?" Angelina rasped, glaring at Roe as she looked up from the papers in her hand, struggling to keep her rifle pointed one handed at waist height as she did so.
"Christ, I don't know!" Roe looked around desperately, believing with good reason that he was about to die, "I don't know! They're locals, that's all I know, and they paid me to help things along. Keep people from finding out. That kinda thing."
"Always good to have the man in charge on your side." Angelina muttered, her face contorting in what could only be called disgust and rage, "Work out well?"
"More than you'll ever know - shame you're so closed minded." Roe stammered, tripping over his words as he tried to continue, "Maybe we ruined some lives, sure, but we saved so many more! And made them so much better!"
Roe hesitated again, eyeing Angelina nervously before going on, "Canterbury - the entire wasteland - we're growing now. We did what we had to do."
"That's exactly what I'm doing." Angelina set her rifle down on the hair and unsheathed her push dagger as she quickly approahed Roe.
The town official hardly managed to fight back even against his already injured and impaired attacker who was experienced and much more capable than he was. The fight if it could even be referred to as one was over in seconds flat, Roe lying on his back bleeding from his throat and chest, Angelina standing over him as she contemplated her next move and wiped her knife off on a clean part of his shirt while Roe quickly bled out on the floor of his office.
"This should get me outta here." Angelina spoke quietly to herself as she approached the safe, sheathing her knife and grabbing a decent sum of caps, knowing she would need all she could get to get out of town.
Angelina tossed the caps into her back, threw it back on and grabbed the paperwork Roe had handed over before being killed. Angelina had all the names of everyone involved in backing Jones, and in the end responsible for what had happened, and enough caps to get her out of town and on the move one they were all dead. That was more than she could ask for. The only problem would be getting to them - and hopefully doing so before anyone realized anything was going on; if Angelina couldn't keep her activities a secret she couldn't be quite so sure she would make it out alive, not in her current condition, had Angelina not been so badly injured and fatigued she would have been able to take on the entire town and likely win. Angelina couldn't bring herself to care as that thought passed through her head for what felt like the hundredth time. If she died it would mean no more dealing with the wasteland, struggling to get by, to barely survive, having to deal with all the filthy, disgusting characters to be found in the post-apocalyptic world. Angelina would never allow that to happen without putting up as much of a fight as she could however, as that thought passed throug her head she headed downstairs and started considering a diversion of some sort to keep local guards busy if not everyone else - if it was at all possible to take out a few of them in the process that would be even better.
As Angelina stepped out into Canterbury Commons again the battered, rusted out gears in her head started spinning, ever so slowly as she took a look around the familiar scenery. Angelina had worked out of Canterbury Commons for a while, it had always been a good place to pick up work even before she took up residence there and started working for the local caravans on a regular basis. There was always someone in need, and in a place such as Canterbury, successful and large, there were plenty of those people - do to the caravan business they often had more than enough to pay for Angelina's services. Limping along the street Angelina sorted her priorities, it wouldn't be long before someone found Roe alone in his office, as he often was; she quickly made her way to a caravan known for loading up on chems not unlike the late Doc Hoff's caravan which Angelina supposed was no more and would never return. After loading up on all Angelina had decided she would need she and moved on as quickly as her weakened condition would allow, a problem that was quickly remedied by a mixed Stimpack-Pyscho dose, one of which as far as anyone knew was purely beneficial but with the other Angelina knew she was pushing her luck by now. The last two doses had been taken when sober, and then when the first was almost entirely gone, but Angelina didn't have much experience with Psycho - she was already pushing her luck and with the way things had been going it was likely that she would overdose though the thought didn't bother her. It was the thought of dying before Angelina could wrap her hands around the necks of the people behind Jones was what bothered her, death was just an inevitable fact, but vengeance was what had always in some way, shape or form fueled her. It was vengeance that would on that day, one way or another, bring about that oh so satisfying thing known as wasteland justice which was Angelina's favorite brand, though if she had stopped to think about it she would have likely figured that was because she had never been on the receiving end of it. Being captured by raiders was similar, Angelina was sure, but wasteland justice was at least usually just that,, good intentions that were brutal, and sometimes misguided but over all necessary in her mind and not at all like what she and so many others had experienced.
"Where now?" Angelina pulled out the documents she had been given by Roe, having ducked into an unused building toward the outskirts of town, just between abandoned, empty buildings and the city proper, "Where now..."
Angelina clenched her teeth without entirely realizing it as she flipped open the documents and scanned them quickly noting that they were indeed what Roe had claimed, having acted too hastily in killing him to even check to make sure she had what she needed. There were names, dates, locations, detailed enough information about transactions and activities to prove every last one of the men and women involved were guilty, which was enough for Angelina. It might not be for anyone else though, knowing that they could likely buy or scare off anyone that tried to take them down through more proper channels which was something Angelina just wasn't willing to let happen; instead she was going to find them and make them wish they were dead, and then, maybe, if she was feeling merciful she would let them have their wish. The more Angeilna thought about it however the less appealing that thought was, as long and drawn out a death as possible would be best for every single one of them. That satisfying thought in mind Angelina set out for her first target.
