Alright got the second chapter done, though I don't know if anyone cares because no ones posted a fregen review yet. Any way hope you like it.
Reaver dropped his bag and sat down on an overturned tree trunk. It had been a hard day, two molerats had attacked him, along with four raiders and a vicious dog, and he had dropped fifty caps buying stimpacks and ammo from a traveling merchant he had come across. Tenpenny tower was a mere afternoons hike away give or take an hour. But darkness had long since begun to descend on the capital wasteland and at night, the world became an even more unforgiving place. Though Reaver was usually the hunter, it was times like this when he would become the hunted. Raiders and slavers would stalk the plains, searching for things to shoot, steal, or enslave, and this wasn't to mention the ambushes from Talon Company and the Regulators that had become somewhat frequent. Also, Reaver hadn't slept in at least two days, and he wasn't planning on becoming a rotted corpse because of dimmed senses.
Reaver some twigs into a pile in front of him then reached into his bag and grabbed the first piece of food he found, a bramin steak. Good food, the radiation didn't effect its taste as much as the other stuff did, which was strange because it came from a mutated cow. Next Reaver pulled a match from his jacket pocket, struck it on the side of his boot, and through it onto the twigs. within minutes he had a decent fire going and he began cooking the steak.
As he finished hanging the meat over the fire, Reaver took a cigarette from behind his ear and lit it with another match. As the exhaled the smoke, he drifted off into his thoughts.
The sound of rustling bushes broke Reaver away from his concentration. Grabbing the pistol on his right thigh, He stood up, turned and aimed at the source of the sound, but found nothing. Reaver lowered the weapon and sat back down, only to be alerted again by the crunching of rocks. Reaver was going to stand again but suddenly a voice from behind stopped him.
"Don't even think about it pal." The voice was deep and grovily, the kind of voice you would expect a villian without any trace of humanity left inside of him to have.
Reaver spat out the cigarette. "Regulator or Talon Company." He didn't turn as he spoke.
A chuckle escaped the mans lips. "Talon company, Impressive that you narrowed it down to two factions if I might say so."
"Good to see someone with abit of respect left in the world."
The man chuckled louder this time. "Hey man just because I'm about to kill you don't mean Im gonna be a prick about it."
Reaver decided not to waste any more time with the merc's idle small talk. "How many with you."
"Just me, your the best at what you do, seems fitting they would send someone equally as skilled to kill you."
this time it was Reavers turn to chuckle. "Then I guess the guy hiding in the bushes you didnt notice is a regulator."
"Wh-" a sound of quick footsteps alerted Reaver that the Talon company merc was moving, darting around to take a shot at the bushes no doubt. "Wait a seccond Im not falling for that!" He said much to Reaver's surprise.
"Should of heeded his warning there pal." Came a new voice.
still looking away, Reaver smiled. "I had assumed he was with you, shame, woulda told you about it if I knew."
The merc stomped his foot in frustration "Shit... Shoulda fucking known they'd send a cowboy after me."
Seeing an opportunity, Reaver stood up and drew his own weapon, a 44. pistol.
"Hold it there pal." The Regulator barked sharply as he switched his target from the merc to Reaver. "Relinquish your firearm, throw it over."
Reaver scowled and raised the pistol so it was trained directly at the regulator. "Ill relinquish one bullet asshole, were do you want it?"
As the regulator gave him a threatening look, Reaver examined both men. Both had weapons drawn, the merc toting a combat shotgun, the Regulator, a Chinese assault rifle. The regulators weapon was trained at the back of the merc's head again, the merc's was pointed from the hip at Reaver, and they both wore the standard gear of there respectable factions. Black combat armor for the Merc, green duster for the regulator.
There was a silence that seemed to last for hours until the regulator finally spoke.
"No ones gonna come out of this victorious if we just shoot each other full of holes," said the regulator. "We all have guns on each other, if someone pulls the trigger, someone else will, causing a chain reaction that results in three corpses hitting the ground. I say we negotiate."
Reaver considered the regulators proposal, and came to the conclusion that he was right.
"Fuck that!" snapped the merc as he switched from Reaver to the regulator. "I go back to my boss without this guys head and it'll be MY head!"
Reaver pointed his gun at the merc. "you can die there or you can take your chances here. and I assure you the latter will be alot less painful."
Reaver had heard stories about how talon company deals with failures, not the kind of stories you would read to your kids at night.
"Alright, slowly," said the regulator. "Were gonna put our guns down."ok?"
There was a tence pause as each man checked to make sure the others would comply, and then each nodded as a sign of agreement. Slowly they lowered there weapons and placed them on the ground.
another five seconds passed and Reaver spoke. "I'm Reaver, but I guess you already knew that though."
"Jericho," Grunted the merc.
"I'm Lance." The regulator said. "Its a pleasure to meet you all."
Reaver didn't know why, but he liked this Regulator. He was different from all the other self ritchous bustards that took shots at him daily. "Well, as long as were in this cease fire, you might as well join me for supper."
Lance chuckled. "Well don't mind if I do." Lance was obviously very laid back. a trait which could be a gift or a curse.
Jericho on the other hand was more hesitant, he stood still, an untrusting look on his face.
"Believe me Jericho, killing you is of little benefit to me. 44.'s cost caps." Said Reaver as he sat back down.
there was a pause, "I Guess so." Jericho replied as he slowly walked over and took a seat.
Reaver took the steak down and cut it into three pieces with a combat knife he had in his boot. "hope you like bramin." He said as he through a piece to each man.
"Thanks." said Lance as he examined the meat, obviusly checked it for poison. Not finding any impurities, Lance took a bite. "Good, stuff." he said as he finished chewing.
As the men ate there dinner, they exchanged stories.
Jericho scoffed down the last of the meat and still chewing began to speak. "I grew up in paradise falls."
"As a slave?" Lance asked as he took a bite from his food.
"Fuck no. I was a slavers kid. Left there when I was err" He stuttered for a moment "fifteen, yea that's it fifteen. Anyway I spent some time with the raiders, robbed a couple trade caravans, raided a few settlements. Then I ditched those armatures and found Talon company. Been with them ever since." Jericho looked over at Reaver. "What about you? they didn't have much info in your file, your like a freaking ghost man."
"My story isn't important, lets here Lances." Reaver nodded at Lance and took another bite of food.
"I was born in the wastes," said the Lance as he finished his meal. "Cant remember what happened to my parents, I assume there dead, raiders or something I don't know. All I remember is spending my life wandering from town to town. Spent a couple years in megaton when I was twenty two. But left when I killed a guy in a bar fight at moriarty's. So I roamed for a while till I found the regulators." He pointed to the Regulator insignia sown onto his duster. "I couldn't give less of a damn about there cause though, but they do pay well. they said they'd give me 2000 caps for taking you down." He motioned to Reaver. "Nothing personal, gotta eat." he chucked lightly and began drinking from a bottle of water.
"Guess your gonna go hungry then." said Reaver through a slight smirk.
"Not exactly," his smile disappeared. "They say thell pay fifty for anyone wearing a talon company uniform." Suddenly a pistol emerged from Lances duster and was trained on Jericho.
"Fucking hell!" Jericho almost fell off his chair in surprise.
Lance pulled back the lever and placed his finger on the trigger. "sorry there pal, gotta eat right?"
Jericho raised his hand in surrender but to no avail. Lance pulled the trigger and sent the merc to the ground. blood began seeping from the hole in his head as he twitched.
Lance turned back and coolly took a sip of water.
Reaver was silent. He had seen men killed by other men, but Lance did it without emotion, without regret. It was disturbing in a way that he had not seen. Suddenly Reaver noticed that his jaw was open, not wanting to look weak in the eyes on the man sent to kill him, he began speaking in a calm tone.
"Was that really necessary?" Reaver asked as he stared at the corpse.
"You need caps to survive out here. you of all people should know that."
"I guess."
"anyway, you seem like an alright guy so I'm gonna make you a little proposition." Lance leaned in towards Reaver.
"And what would that be?" Reaver asked.
"I know were your going Reaver, Iv been following you for a while now."
"And were would I be going?" Reaver replied, intrigued.
"Tenpenny tower, looking for some rich folk who would be interested in your services." He said.
Reaver was impressed. how this guy found out were he was going, and why he was going there was beyond him. "If your going to say something say it."
A smile covered his face. "I'll get the regulators off your back, and get you into Tenpenny tower, if you let me join you."
Reaver laughed, "What use could you possibly be to me?"
"Well, for one, the elitist fuckers at Tenpenny tower aren't just gonna let you stroll in, no unless you have someone who can persuade them to let you, sorry us poke around a bit. I can do that for you."
"How?"
"Let's just say I have a way with words." Lance paused a moment as if he were finished, but a displeased look from Reaver caused him to continue. "Look, when it comes to contracts with me, people say the'll pay five hundred for a corpse, and they end up paying eight."
"I see." Reaver rubbed his light stubble. "So what you're saying is you can get me more caps from my customers?"
"What I'm saying is your pockets are gonna be lined with caps and you're not gonna have people like me taking shots at you." Lance stood up and held out his hand to Reaver. "So do we have a deal?" a slight pause. "Partner?"
Reaver hesitated; he hated working with other people. He had tried working with a partner on a couple jobs, but they had all just slowed him down. However, more caps in his pockets and less people shooting at him sounded appealing Reaver. Standing up, he took Lances hand and shook it firmly. "Deal partner."
_
The plot thickens!, an uneasy alliance between two professional killers! Post a review, If you liked it great but if you didn't don't be abusive. I don't mind constructive criticism but insults won't be tolerated.