Chapter 5: Gravamen

Gravamen - things weighting down; The basic element or complaint of a lawsuit.

There was a flicker there that he had been waiting for. She baulked. He knew she had some skill in maintaining a neutral face - it went with her profession. The things that their clients could and would have been accused of required a straight face - but she wasn't a stone-cold killer.

'He's a raider, Vaultie.' Garv reasoned.

'So are you.' She replied. 'How would you react if someone had said they were going to kill Sturges?'

'I'd kill them first.' Garv replied without remorse. 'You learn that early or you don't get the chance to learn at all. It's us or them.'

'It wasn't always like that.' She insisted. He couldn't help noticing that when she was excited or agitated her hands grew more animated. As though she were trying to shape the argument physically. Was that a lawyer trait or just a quirk of hers in general? Either way, if she wanted to live more than a few days she would need to stop that, it drew attention to herself and sometimes the last thing you wanted to do was bring attention to yourself. 'There was a time you could meet and discuss your differences-'

He laughed harshly in her face. 'Keep telling yourself that when Jared gets here to find out what happened to his men. You'll wish you were dead.'

'So that makes murdering a man in cold blood the only option?' She frowned. 'Of course, doing that would help you in your main objective anyway, wouldn't it?'

He shrugged. Honestly, it was suicidal to go back there and try with just Sturges but he couldn't go back home and tell Wire that he'd gotten the rest of the team killed - could he have some more to go and finish off the job, please? The man would put a bullet in his brain for the sheer cheek. 'You don't have to come with me, Vaultie.'

'There's that word again.' She frowned. 'Why are you calling me Vaultie?'

Wasn't it obvious? 'It's a nickname.'

'It's a distancing measure.' She replied and Garv had that feeling again that he was under a microscope. Every word and tell under scrutiny. She knew he was purposefully avoiding using her name to avoid getting too attached. Just in case she died or they were forced to make a tough call. It was easier on the conscience to know her by a nickname than an actual name. It was easier to fall into the trap of being friends and when dreadful necessity presented itself - a situation where it was you or them - Shit like that messed a person up. Got them killed. That was one reason that Raiders had very few friends. 'And I want to come. You're right, if I let him dictate the terms of warfare, he'll be at the advantage.'

Garv blinked. For a second, she almost seemed human and understanding - then came out with that like a walking dictionary. Dictate the terms of warfare? Sounded like something out of an old history book rather than from a living, breathing person. 'Something like that.' He agreed.

She nodded and looked pained that in all likelihood, she would have to murder someone again in the next few hours, days, weeks. She wasn't a Wastelander - she wasn't a killer at heart.

Atom preserve him, she was going to be lucky to make it weeks on her own - and he was basically convincing her to let him throw her to the wolves. The thought sent a tingle of guilt running through him and he cursed inwardly. This was why you didn't get attached, this was why you used nicknames and bravado and drank. Because he'd only just met her, barely knew her, and she was already worming her way in. The thought of feeding an innocent like her to Jared's bullets made him uncomfortable.

'What if we made a new deal?'

What? He dragged his damn brain around the new conversation. She sounded thoughtful and was staring off into the distance before she snapped back to him. 'The deal was that we survive.' He pointed out.

'Which, I'll be helping you do.' Thea replied evenly. 'By killing that raider that almost killed you.'

'You just agreed that it would help you as well!'

'In the short run.' She shrugged. 'It's like chess. You've got to think at least three moves ahead to win the game. If you were sent there to kill this Jared - then that means that Wire wants his territory. He wants to expand. In a month or two, I could be right back in our current predicament but with you as my enemy.'

And here was where intelligence became an annoyance to him - because she was right. 'So, what do you want?' He asked in irritation.

'I have some conditions.' She agreed. 'First, I want Sanctuary Hills left alone. Second, I want to know where I can find information on my son, and lastly I want you to help me find someone who will help me the rest of the way.'

'You're not asking for much, are you?' He said scathingly.

'Do you see anyone else around here willing to help you do something suicidally murderous?' She threw a hand around the empty, slightly chilled room.

She had a point. And he knew there was a detective in Diamond City who was supposed to specialize in things like missing persons. Diamond City was on the way back to Libertalia. Supposing they survived this and went back like heroes, they could afford to drop her at the front gates and wash their hands of her. Wire wouldn't be too concerned with Sanctuary if Garv played down the resources and played up the usefulness of their new partner. Let her have that crumbling corner when they could have Corvega.

'Lets make a new deal.' He agreed reluctantly.

Morning the next day. Garv had slept fitfully, but then again he never slept very good these days without a load on board. Too many years of watching over his shoulder. He'd found a cosy enough corner in the house opposite Vaultie's. Sturges had also chosen there to sleep, although falling asleep on the power armour frame - wrench in hand - did not seem to be part of the plan. Garv kicked him awake on his way past as the sun rose.

Sturges was his usual self, despite what must've been an uncomfortable night. He was still acting like a hyperactive mutt when they'd set out from Sanctuary. They weren't planning on taking on Jared immediately, Garv wanted to survey the situation - eyeball how many men Jared had pulled to protect his operation, see just how fucked they were. If they made good time, they could be back at Sanctuary to nail down some plans in a little under two days.

Garv's first assault on the old Corvega plant hadn't exactly gone to plan - and he'd had more men and the element of surprise on his side then. No doubt that after Jared's hunting party hadn't returned, the man would beef up the security around the plant. Raiders were insane - but not stupid, which meant that it would be even more difficult to get in there and do what needed to be done; even with a smaller force.

The three of them had gone hardly very far when they hit the Red Rocket that they'd seen by the gloom of the closing daylight yesterday. Vaultie paused, considering something. 'Can you wait for two minutes?'

What? They had a hell of a lot of way to go before they hit Lexington and she wanted a break already? But she simply dropped to the ground and unslung her pack. It took a few seconds of digging before she came up with a can of purified water and a battered can of something that smelled like 200-year-old dog food.

'Vaultie, what -' He demanded.

'Here doggy!' She rattled the can and Garv watched in fascination as a skinny german shepherd slunk out of the building, nose twitching at the smell.. It moved forward and then seemingly caught the smell of Garv and Sturges. It almost bellied the floor and began to growl.

'Shh, it's okay.' Vaultie sympathised and closed in on the dog. Garv thought she was nuts. Patently the dog was on edge and liable to go crazy, but she was still approaching it. 'He doesn't like you.' She murmured as her hand stroked through the raised hackles.

Gee, he wondered why? Maybe he wasn't a dog person. Dogs had always made him edgy - Raiders trained their dogs to be virtually uncontrollable weapons. They had even been known to savage their handlers in the heat of a fight.

'Where'd you find him?' Sturges wondered and dropped to his own knees. 'Hey boy!'

The dog reached out to gingerly sniff Sturges' hand before retreating behind Thea again. As he did, Garv caught sight of a bandage wrapped around it's leg which explained why it was so defensive - injured animals were cautious and temperamental when in pain. The patch was haphazard and badly tied. He had the sneaking suspicion that it was Vaultie's handiwork.

'I found him before I found you guys,' Thea chatted as she spooned the glop into an old, battered plastic dog bowl. 'He'd been attacked by something and his back leg was badly infected. Never did find an owner but I've been giving him half a stimpak and he looks better.'

She'd been wasting supplies on the mutt. Garv, as someone who had gone without essentials like medical aid and stimpaks sometimes was dumbfounded. Supplies like that had probably been plentiful in the old world, but in today's Commonwealth they were hard to find and harder still to keep. Medical convoys were some of the most targeted caravans.

'How's your leg looking, huh?' She asked and gently peeled the grimy cloth back. 'Oh it looks so much better.' She cooed and pulled out another stimpak. 'One more ought to clean it right up.'

The dog paid no attention to them anymore, his attention was ravenously on the food and water being offered. He didn't even flinch as she administered the half-stimpak in her hand to his leg and massaged it in. The filthy cloth that had been wrapped around it went back into the bag and she pulled out a fresh one. This was some sort of chequered material that looked as though it had been torn up from an old pre-war dress. Probably one of her neighbours' dresses that she'd scavenged Garv realised.

'You'll be right as rain in no time.' She smiled and scratched him behind the ear. The dog turned and licked her hand before returning to it's dinner. Garv noticed, however, that it was continuously glancing up, keeping him within it's sights.

He didn't like the dog and the dog didn't like him. That was understood.

'We could use a dog.' Sturges murmured. 'Be a scout, track some-'

'No.' Thea replied. 'He's injured. I couldn't ask him to come on a dangerous thing like this with such an awful wound.'

For once, Garv agreed with her. A dog you'd only just met - even if it was friendly to her anyway - was a liability. Would it run from the gunfight? Would it savage anything near it like a raider dog would? Most raiders he knew bred larger breeds like this but the deadly ones - the deadly ones were the smaller breeds built like tanks.

It was supposed to be a recon mission. If the dog did catch scent of raiders - and Garv had a distinct feeling it didn't like them which was absurd; it was a dog! - and went mental, any kind of stealth and low profile went out of the window. Then he'd have wished that he'd taken the stupid power armour with him.

'Are we moving?' Garv demanded acidly. 'We've got a long way to go before we get to Lexington, Vaultie.'

'Can't we-' Thea tried, unwilling to leave the dog to it's own devices for such a long trek.

'C'mon darlin'.' Sturges half-smiled at the look on Garv's face. 'Someone's gettin cranky.'

She sighed heavily. 'I'll be a few days, boy.' Thea murmured rubbing him behind an ear and ignoring the irritated waiting of Garv behind her. 'You be careful, okay?'

The dog barked affirmative and went back to eating.

With a quick dust off of her knees, Thea stood. 'Alright. Lets go.'