CHAPTER 2

A cloud of smoke rose to the fluorescent lights, slowly drifting past it to join the rest of the smoke the hung just above the bar. The cold stones clanked around each other in the inside of the now empty glass. A hand drifted from the glass to just above the bar, waving down the bartender for another drink. Digging around her pocket, she places eight caps on the old wooden suffice. The bartender floated over with a whirl of his jets. Without a word, he refilled her drink, took her caps, tilted his little hat, and floated away. With a heavy heart, the woman at the bar lifted her barely cold drink and slowly drank from it.

"Bad day?" came a rough voice from the mouth of someone looked even rougher than he sounded. "I've had a few of those myself" he said sitting down next to her.

"I bet, being alive for more than two hundred years." She said with a smirk that matched her snark. She took another spit as her new guest spun in his chair to face the back wall of the bar, letting himself slouch.

"Nah, I aint that old yet, but, I think I'm about to make your day a lot better sweetheart." Her guest matched her smirk. She needed work. Not just for the alcohol or to feed herself, but also to finish something she started a long time ago.

"Alright, Hancock, I'm listening. I don't know for how much longer, but l'm listening." Placing her drink down, they both knew that he had her attention for the moment.

"I need you to take care of a few problems, and by a few I mean two. I'll have someone drop off the request later to you, but I don't need any-"

"How much?" she cut him off. As he paused to listen to the interruption He smile. He liked her, she was as good as his bodyguard, but a lot less hard looking. He appreciated her for what she was. What she was, was good at her job and keeping her mouth shut. She lived by a code, a code he also lived by. It had been almost serendipitous that she rolled into his little community. They were both founding fathers after all. Well, at least in this post war world. He looked her dead in the eyes and kept his smile glued to his face with a little chuckle.

"You got balls, Rose. I'll give you that. 200 caps sound good." He saw a smile flash across her face but he knew what she was about to say.

"You said two, Hancock." She raised her glass to her lips without breaking eye contact. "That'll be double. Unless you want the kid in there for do it." Nodding her head toward the VIP section knowing he would get the hint.

"Fine. Double after the job." He sighed heavily before taking a sip of the whiskey put silently in front of him by the floating scrap pile. "I'll have your instruction in the morning. I'll also take care of your tab." Hancock continued his drink and slowly relaxed into his stool now that business was over. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she also relaxed. She was calm, but it was the Commonwealth after all, and that meant she couldn't let her guard down. He could sense that, so he raised his glass. "To Freedom." he said. Without rotating, Rose Lifted her glass.

"Aye. To Freedom." Clinking their glasses together, quickly followed by shooting their drinks down the hatch. Rose coughed and shaking her head as she did so. The Bartender glided over, and poured them both another. He requested no money this time, after all the transaction was done. Rose pulled the liquid between her teeth, slowly sipping it. She could feel her cheeks slowly growing flush. Luckily the Mayor had decided to grace her with his presence before she was too buzzed to agree to a lower price. She had a silver tongue, it had gotten her out of a lot of trouble in the past, but Hancock was too good to not pick up on it, and sometimes too good to talk her out of whatever IT was.

She watched the room from the corner of her eyes slowly, but she also studied what was going on in front of her. Her ears were filled with the sounds of beautiful music, her belly was full of both liquor and food, and she had a pretty good paycheck. It was a good place to be right now. Tension was building in the Commonwealth, no one knew exactly when it was going to boil over, but it needed to.

"So what do you know about the greenhorn" She said pointing her thumb at the VIP room again. She had heard rumors when he came to town that he was good, but she didn't know with what. He looked rough, and like everyone else in the ruins of the Eastern United states, tired. He had shown up in town a month or two after Rose did, which mean she still got the jobs due to her reputation, but she was expensive. Expensive for a good reason, but some people didn't have the caps for that.

"He came up from the Capital Wasteland. He use to roll with the Gunners. He's looking for something, but no one knows what." It sounded just like everyone else in this wasteland. Rose herself had come up from New York. Her family was lucky enough to have been rich enough to get into one of the vault when the bombs had fallen. She wanted to go to DC. She had business there, but she needed work, and North was better than South when she heard the reports that the Enclave had been destroyed in DC. She had heard rumors that DC had fresh water now, that they were working on a way to get the radiation completely out of the city. But she knew better than to let rumors give her hope, or set her destination. She had a job to do, and she had to keep going.

"Maybe I'll take him with me. Get him some practice."

"Maybe he'll teach you a thing or two. He's a sniper Rose. Apparently he use to be a Mayor of some town back in the Capital. Took off on his own. Got a wife and a boy."

"What the fuck is he doing here then?"

"Probably, like a certain someone I know, work." Rose, seeing that he was correct, tilted her glass towards him in an agreeing manor.

"Better watch your mouth there ghoul. I'm starting to feel pretty good right about now, and Lorena is starting to get bored." She now pointed her thumb at what looked liked a Swatter on her back. She of course was being sarcastic, and she knew that he knew that. She knew she wouldn't follow through on her threat right now, but it felt good to make it.

"I wouldn't dream of it Sunshine." He laughed it off. He left the booze do their job, because in the morning she'd be doing hers. That was something he could count on, and it was indeed a fact.

The evening slowly crept along, and the two false founding continued to crack jokes and follow up on leads. They kept up drinking with each other, but they did so slowly and enjoying the alcohol poured in front of them. Rose was getting too old to do shots anymore, and nothing felt better than the slow warmth burning its way up the back of her head.

As she drank she wondered how much longer she'd have to stay in the town. It frustrated her sometime, even if this place felt more like home than the vault did. Between the drifters, ghouls, and robots, it was nice. Probably the nicest place she'd had the pleasure of sleeping in for a long time. The Hotel around the counter had been the perfect place to make camp. A roof, a bed, a pillow, a an actual working bathroom. Not to mention all the work she could dream of.

"When are ya leaving Rose?" The ghoul said, bringing her back to reality.

"The bar, for your job, or permanently?" She questioned, now digging around in the bag for some cigarettes, pulling one out, and lighting it. Smoking wasn't her thing, she hated it really, but she had a nice buzz going and wanted a light.

"Permanently."

"Did I wear out my welcome already?" She said pushing the words through the cigarette she was trying to light in her lips.

"Nothing like that. You're good at your job, and I've been thinking Fahrenheit could use some company, or a day off. It would be steady pay and safe." She raised an eyebrow finally taking a drag of her cigarette.

"We both know that nothing is safe around you pal. I appreciate the offer but-"

"Think about it, doll." The ghoul shot the rest of his drink stood up, fixed his coat. Placing a rotten hand on her shoulder, she could smell the alcohol like cologne floating around it. "Think about it." He patted her shoulder and walked off. She watch him walk with his head held high. Sometimes the confidence on the man was unnerving, but that's why he was the mayor after all.