AN: Well it certainly took long enough to get to here but at least I made it at all. Anyways, assuming I can stay out of the hospital for a considerable amount of time the next chapters will hopefully be a bit quicker. Now to my wonderful reviewers-
Mr. Guest: Glad your enjoying it so far. I try to keep my work neat and tidy but there's only so much one Idiot can do. Know anyone that wants to beta, I'd happily accept the help. Anywayz, thanks for reviewing and enjoy the show.
F3ARSOM3: I hope different translates to decent reading material. I can't claim to be a great author but at least I can do is to keep it mostly new. Thanks for teh review and hope it continues to be interesting.
Tired eyes gazed beyond the rolling hills and battered lowlands, beyond the raider infested slums all the way to those impossibly distant walls. Just a few short weeks ago those same walls held hope and the promise of answers. Now, now they were a hopeless pipe dream. Hell, from here they may as well have been the moon. She was just as likely to reach one as the other at this point.
Six watched the towering spire from the very hillside that just a few weeks ago should have been her grave. Three weeks, that's how long she'd been in recovery. That was a three week head start for that cheap suited bastard that had nearly ended her life. She honestly didn't know what to do next. She'd been robbed of everything she had, and hadn't nearly enough to restock for a trek through the desert. So here she was, sitting on a hill, with a nearly full whiskey bottle in her hand and not a single fuck to give about anything at the moment.
This was the scene Goodspring's resident peace keeper, Sunny Smiles, was presented with. A couple of whispers overheard at the saloon had sent her up here looking for Doc Michale's still unnamed patient. She was sitting with her back to the town so not much of her was visible at the moment. Clearly she wanted to be alone, but it wasn't like Sunny just to turn back now.
Cautiously she made her way up to the stranger, honestly she had no idea of what to expect from the woman. As of now she was as likely to shoot Sunny as she was to turn around and hug her. But as her feet brought her closer, Sunny started to see more of the stranger and started to lower her guard. She didn't have the look of a killer, truth be told she looked lost. If the rumors were to be believed that probably wasn't too far from the truth either.
Throwing caution to the wind Sunny closed the ever shrinking distance between them in a few short steps and took a seat in the sand beside the woman.
When the woman made no notice of her presence she pressed a bit trying to gain some attention."Quite a view isn't it."
Six blinked in response, before looking over her shoulder to the newcomer. And what a sight she was, not to say Six had seen many cowgirls before but this new person certainly fit the bill of one. Her accent as well was something to be noted, definitely not from around here.
After a short pause to assure herself the girl wasn't too much a threat she decided to entertain her desire to 'meet the new girl. ' "I suppose it is." She answered, "But something tells me you didn't walk all the way up here for the view."
"Well hearsay of Doc's mysterious patient up and about may have caught my ear." Sunny admitted. "And it might have been recommended that somebody help her back on her feet."
The woman smirked at the sheer irony of that one statement. "You don't know the half of it."
Sunny relaxed a bit at seeing her reaction, thinking she was finally getting somewhere with the stranger, "Well should you need should you need the help I've got a little work that I could use an extra pair if hands on."
"What sort of work?" Six eyed the newcomer warily. She knew she needed the help but at the same time, what little she had picked up on since her awakening revealed one simple and universal truth. No one helped anyone out of the kindness of their heart.
"I need someone to help run geckos off the the wells. There's too many for just Cheyenne and me and no one else here has any combat experience." Sunny explained, rather earnestly as well. But something there was off.
"Why do you assume I have anymore combat experience than them?" Six questioned.
Sunny for her part looked slightly taken aback at the question, "Your clothes, NCR issue. I just assumed you were a soldier at one point."
Six looked down at her dirt covered clothes and for the first time realized they did have the look of a uniform about them. Strange that she hadn't noticed it before then but she did have a lot on her mind. "Well, I'm no soldier, but you get me a rifle and I'll help you with your gecko problem."
"Really? That's great. I've got a small rifle I can lend you. It's not much but good enough for the smaller critters."
"Thanks, so, now that we'll be hunting together what do I call you?"
"Name's Sunny, Sunny Smiles. And you?"
That simple question, not remarkable in the slightest, managed to ease her mind if only a bit. Because in truth, it wasn't the question that warmed her eyes, it was the answer and the memories that it lived within. It was practically her only good memory, so she cherished it above any other. In the barest of whispers she breathed, "Six" The memory lasted only milliseconds but stole her mind away for an entirety. When it finally ended her eyes darkened but not to the extent they had been before, "My name is Six."
Sunny didn't miss the look of her eyes. That name, strange as is might have been, held meaning to her. Not that it was any of her business but from the way she reacted it must have been something or someone special. "It suits you. Look me up at the Prospector when your ready to make a few caps."
"That's all for now folks. This is Mr. New Vegas signing off-"
Trudy turned and switched off the small radio she kept behind the counter. It was almost time to close up shop for the night and the only patrons left this late were Sunny and that dog of hers. Not bad company usually but today she said she'd be waiting on someone and had decided to wait on them in the other room.
Not much happened in this town on the day to day, so the prospect of someone new was both intriguing and a bit worrisome considering their last visitor wound up shot six times and robbed. Not the best track record for visitors around here, though if anyone was stupid enough to start anything in her saloon they'd soon be taught the error of their ways courtesy of her .357
It wasn't until she started wiping down the countertop that she heard the door open. She couldn't see anyone entering from behind her bar, but she heard them clear as day. "Sunny." The voice was flat and even but unmistakably feminine.
"Six, good to see you. You ready for a bit of hunting."
Trudy could hear the grin on the faceless woman as she spoke again, "Yea, lets give em' hell."
"Good, here's that rifle I promised. Simple and straight forward, it shouldn't give you any trouble."
There was a short pause followed by a metallic clack of a magazine being loaded. Trudy didn't know if this stranger having a loaded gun in her bar was such a good idea but she trusted Sunny enough not to barge into the other room with a gun drawn. "Thanks, it'll do fine. Now lets put it to use."
"Alright, let me get a few things together and I'll meet you on the road out of town."
No more words were traded between the two. The sounds of a chair scraping the floor followed by light footfalls walking out the door echoed around the corner, leaving her alone again. Not that she would complain about that, all she wanted this late was to crawl into bed and sleep off another drearily slow day. And that was exactly what she was going to do as she walked around the overly long countertop and made a beeline for the door.
On the outside of the threshold the bite of the cold night air knocked the sleep right out of her eyes. Like a twenty degree bitch slap, it was sure to get your attention. Of course once the initial shock all that remained was the hatred for the cold that only someone in a mid-summer dress could possess. Quickly she set off for her cozy little house on the edge of town.
As it would happen she passed Sunny's newest acquaintance. The woman looked out over the desert with a thousand yard stare that left Trudy just slightly wary of this new girl. Aside from her very distant demeanor she was a very average looking woman. Hell, the only remarkable thing about her was her hair. White, not the most common hair color of a young woman. She might have greeted the stranger another day, but as it stood it was the middle of the night and colder than it had any right to be.
Six felt the eyes studying her from afar but paid the passing barkeep no mind. Her mind was elsewhere, more it was everywhere around her. The prospect of another hunt had opened the floodgates of her senses. Honed by a life she couldn't remember they automatically picked up on the most subtle queues that normally would pass unnoticed.
The prowling coyotes in the hills to the north or the the whine of a Radscorpion as it charged feebly at a Raven who by now was sailing safely overhead. And finally Sunny Smiles herself trotting up the road with her four legged shadow in tow.
"You ready?" She called out as she approached.
Six answered with a curt nod and fell into step beside the shorter woman. Sunny lead them down the asphalt for a minute or so longer before taking up a trail cutting a swath in the brush overgrowing the hillside. The rise crested just in sight of the metallic domes of the well covers and around them sulking forms hunting in the shadows. All the rest was a downhill trek towards the bottom of the gully that the thick underbrush seemed to radiate outwards from.
Six drew to a halt here at the top of the hill, leaving Sunny just down the incline ahead of her wondering why the woman had stopped. "We're gonna need to get a bit closer." Her words fell on deaf ears as Six slung the rifle around off her shoulder and took up aim at the closest gecko in the vally.
-CRACK-
The plume of dust a foot left of her target confirmed her suspicions. This was not her rifle and its sights were not in proper alignment. A small inconvenience, the bolt was cycled and a compensated shot was lined up on the animal still trying to determine what just happened.
-CRACK-
One body drops and another takes its place in her sights. The action cycles smoothly at her hand and another round is ready to hurdle downrange.
-CRACK-
Another body adds is blood to that already pooling at the base of the water pipes. Another spent shell is dropped from the action and another fresh bullet takes up its place.
-CRACK-
Sunny could only stand by and watch in a mixture of awe and horror as the entire pack of lizards were systematicly exterminated by a single woman. She was a machine, that's all there was to it, not a single bullet wasted aside from her first.
As the magazine expended it's last shot her hand glided over the bolt and in a seamless transaction flew to her pocket to retrieve another. The new shots were loaded before the spent clip hit the sand at her feet. This was too much for Sunny to comprehend, this woman… wasn't possible. That's all there was, she'd seen veteran snipers from the Desert Rangers and the NCR in action and none of them had the grace… no not grace, ruthlessness with a firearm as this girl. After the onesided engagement ended and the echoes of the rifle died away in the wind she could only sum up three words at the inhuman display of efficiency. "What. The. Hell."
The woman didn't answer right away, letting her icy eyes scan the surrounding flora for any movement outside of Cheyenne trotting from body to body, investigating the dead lizards one by one. When, and only when her search turned up nothing did life return to her eyes and her lips parted with an undignified "Huh?"
Sunny didn't lower her tone at the woman's confusion. "That! Whatever the hell that was…"
Seconds ticked by as Six searched for what the woman was raving about. There was nothing significant in her eyes, they had been en route to eliminate a pack of geckos, nothing wrong so far. It'd been fairly easy going, just a short trot up a hill, then she… "Oh, that."
Sunny for her part wasn't holding up to well. But then again the woman who'd so far had seemed just a lone drifter had just turned ruthless killer with the precision of a damned robot. In her opinion she was handling the situation quite well. "Don't just act like that's fucking normal. What the hell are you?"
She hid her wince well at the venom laced words being spat at her. Though she'd just barely met this woman it hurt no less than someone she'd known all her life accusing her. Six searched her eyes and found nothing but pure blinding fear. Taking a half step backwards she silently mumbled a meek apology, "I… I'm sorry..." Then proceeded to flee the scene.
"Hey Easy."
The elder man sighed into his drink at the call of his nickname. He hated that damn name, and sure enough it was his own damn fault he was saddled with it too. When years ago he was young and stupid he'd staked a claim on a nice little slice of prewar salvage. He paraded his claim all over that saloon, insisting he'd finally found the ticket to the "easy life."
Two fuckin' weeks later and who shows up on site but the metal clad bastards calling themselves the Brotherhood. God damn pricks, now here he was wasting away in the same damn saloon and scraping by on a stash of prewar mining explosives he'd stumbled across.
He peered over his shoulder at the two brothers, Joseph and Eric Collins, getting happily wasted just at noon. "Yeah?"
Eric, the younger of the two leaned over and in a barely hushed voice asked, "You heard what went down last night out by the wells? About Sunny's hired help?" The boy was often know to exaggerate wild claims and had quickly established a reputation for being, quote, "A lying, no good, son of a bitch." So when it came to drunken story time Pete was hardly surprised to hear of another flight of fancy.
But, then again, in such a small town, if you could call it that, entertainment was hard to come by. And so it was decided that he would indulge the younger boy's imagination, if only for the sake of a few laughs. "Can't say I have. You know something I don't?"
A snide, crooked grin broke out across the boys face. This was going to be good.
"You see," He started before checking the saloon for any prying eyes, or ears as the case may have been. "When Sunny was taking the new girl out to the wells she just all of a sudden snapped. Her eyes glazed over and and she just went mad, slung her rifle around and just went mad, sprayed more lead downrange than an NCR recruit. Total killing spree, nothing was left breathing down there, hell the only reason Sunny made it back was cuz she ran out of bullets."
The old man stared at him for a moment after he finished, feigning bafflement before bursting into laughter. "Boy, I don't know what's better that you expect others to buy that shit or that you yourself believe it."
Joseph sat back in his chair taking a swig of beer with the story. After Pete was done holding his sides he decided to step in, "Easy there Pete. He might be full of shit, but most of what he just said is god's honest truth.
Looking at the elder brother with near disappointment he muttered, "Oh don't go telling me you bought into that crap too. I know damn well there were at least two rifles going off last night. No way a bolt action gets off that many shots in a minute, not a chance in hell."
"I know, but Sunny swears on her life it was all the girl. And that only once did she miss." He took another drink off the bottle before slamming it down on the table. "Scary shit ain't it?"
"Not as scary as actually seeing it." Three heads whipped around to see none other than Sunny Smiles taking a seat two stools down from the Pete.
"Hey Sunny," Eric began, for some reason still whispering. "Tell 'em what happened. What really happened."
Sunny's head dropped further than it was already hung seemingly defying what was humanly possible. "Look, can we drop the whole thing, please."
"What's gotten into you girl?" Pete asked whilst waving off Eric's no doubt smartass remark.
She looked up at him, shame clearly etched into her features, "Look it wasn't dealt with quite as well as it should have alright. She took off without even getting paid."
"So," Eric's remarks would not go unheard this time, "Sounds to me like you did us a favor, scaring that crazy bitch off."
One step too far. A bottle launched itself from Sunny's grip to fly across the bar and introduced itself to Eric's skull. The already buzzed young man saw a flash of white as he toppled from his chair and hit the floor, hard. Joseph, ever the "loyal" sibling, simply laughed himself to tears at the drunken idiot's downfall. Not that it wasn't an unusual sight, Eric wound up in a fight at least once a week, and how he was usually the better part of drunk he often ended up much like this. But damn if it never got old.
Pete didn't pay the brothers anymore mind as he tossed a couple caps on the counter to cover his drink before following after Sunny. "God damn kids.."
He didn't even make it out the door before a glinting steel muzzle was thrust into his face. On the other end of the gleaming .357 was a murderous stare worn by an apparent NCRCF resident. His eyes held no life and the rest of his scared face was every bit as warming as radscorpion.
With only a seconds hesitation to look at his target a finger tightened around the trigger. The hammer fell forward and the revolver barked the last sound "Easy" Pete would hear in this life.
AN: Well, like I said. It was a wait but I hope it wasn't too bad. I'm holding out hope the next chapter will be a bit quicker, and hopefully better even. Wouldn't that be a sight...