Maverick knew he was going insane.
He couldn't stop worrying about her. Did she make it to Megaton okay? Is she going to do something stupid and naïve? Will she actually fucking find James? Is she still alive even?
He pondered these questions, even two weeks after she left, as he ground his teeth on his cigarette, leaning against his front door. He had put it in his mouth, intending to light it, but Vaultie kept showing up in his mind and he accidentally bit down through it in his frustration.
"Jesus, you're eating cigs now?"
Maverick quickly spat out the cigarette and glared at Silver. His neighbor had her arms crossed under her generous chest and she was tapping her foot with an irritated look pointed towards him.
"Why do you care?" he snapped, looking at the ruined house across the street.
Silver scoffed and stepped onto his porch, leaning back next to him. "I've never seen you this high strung before. What's going on?"
Maverick glared at her before looking at the house across the street again.
"It's Leyah, isn't it? I liked her too. She was nicer than you and she actually seemed to give a damn when she talked to us, unlike those other strays you take in."
Yes, she did, Maverick thought, thinking about how she kept trying to get to know him. Maverick avoided situations like that for many reasons. Vaultie did genuinely care about people though, and that could either get her killed or worse.
"Yeah, and it was annoying. She'll probably die if she keeps that shit up," he grumbled, tossing the rest of his ruined cigarette away. For some reason he could not pinpoint exactly, his stomach rolled uncomfortably at the idea of Vaultie lying dead on the ground somewhere.
Silver scrunched her nose up in annoyance. "Christ Maverick, just go to Megaton and see how she's doing if you're so worried."
Maverick stiffened at the thought. Go to Megaton? Well…he did have some stuff he could sell to the various shop owners there- No!
"You're fucking crazy," he snorted, turning to go back inside.
"God damn, Leyah was right. You do push people away," Silver quipped, turning on her heel back toward her house.
Maverick sighed angrily, glaring up at the top of his porch. No, I can't let it happen again.
The last time he was close to people, they only got hurt and he suffered for it. But, the girl was naïve. And a do-gooder. That was never a good combination for survival.
He also recalled the last thing he said before she left. 'Tell your Dad I said 'Hi'.' You're so fucking lame, Maverick he growled to himself. He thought about what James did for his sister, Rachel, many years ago, and how the scientist's actions saved her life.
Thinking back on it, he never got the chance to tell the scientist how grateful he was back then. And Vaultie's do-good ways reminded him of his sister in an almost painful way. If Leyah died, that almost seemed like Rachel was dead too.
An idea stuck in his mind and he finally made the decision. He was going to find Vaultie and he was going to help her find James whether she liked it or not. Rachel would have wanted him to do that.
He let out a low growl of frustration as he stomped inside and started shoving various things he scavenged in a bag.
Thank Christ Megaton wasn't that far away.
And it was still the piece of shit Maverick recalled it being. His lip curled at the sheets of metal that were responsible for its shitty appearance.
"Vaultie, you better not be dead," he growled under his breath, walking through the main gate. Maverick looked around and stared at the bomb at the bottom on the hill. There weren't many things that made Maverick uneasy in this world, but that bomb was one of the few things that did.
"Well well, if it isn't Maverick," a deep voice declared.
Maverick looked away from the bomb toward the owner of the voice, mouth turning up into a smirk. "Hello Sheriff, or is it Mayor right now?"
Simms was one of the few people that didn't piss Maverick off in this town; seeing him helped him calm down…barely.
"Sheriff at the moment. Did you hear the good news?" Simms asked, smiling broadly.
"Good news exists? I've gotta hear this," Maverick snorted. What the hell could Simms possibly have that's good?
"That bomb down there is disarmed. Some little vault girl marched right in and disarmed it about a week ago."
Maverick's heart leapt at the mention of a 'vault girl'. "What vault girl?"
Simms scratched under his hat. "Well, she walked in about a month ago asking about her Dad…I think she had just stumbled from the vault then. She went up to Moriarty's. I warned her about him but she didn't listen and-"
"That's a nice story," Maverick interrupted, "but where is she now?"
Simms narrowed his eyes at the taller man. "Now why would you want to know? If I recall, you can't stand people. She's a resident here now and I don't want you causing any trouble with her."
Maverick rolled his eyes. "Lucas, who do you think taught her how to disarm a damn bomb in the first place?" Jesus Vaultie, what have you been up to?
"I thought that was you. She said she learned some tricks from a crabby man in Springvale. Fits you perfectly, now doesn't it?" Simms frowned. "Hold on, are you telling me you knew how to disarm a nuclear bomb?"
"Jesus Christ, no. I stay away from those things. I only taught her about mines and traps."
"She's either really lucky or really smart then because that thing is not a problem now."
Maverick wanted to shake the man. While he was happy and a little proud of Vaultie for disarming the damn thing, he wanted to know where she was. "Where is Leyah?" he asked. The sooner he found her, the sooner he could help her find her dad and he could finally say what he wanted to say to him.
"I saw her walking up to Moira's earlier. You might want to ask her."
Oh great, now he had to talk to one of the many people that did piss him off.
"Thanks Lucas," he said, reluctantly making his way toward Moira's shop.
"It's about time one of your strays wiggled under your skin," Simms chuckled, walking away.
Maverick glared at the man over his shoulder. Sure, he helped a lot of people in the past. Teaching them how to shoot and take care of a gun, what was and what wasn't poisonous. All that jazz. Vaultie though…she stuck around the longest out of all the strays he took in. He taught her things he didn't even bother teaching the others.
Shaking the thought out of his head, he quickly started to make his way toward the store again.
Maverick instantly felt pissed when he saw a man glaring at him right away. He curled his lip at the asshole and walked over to the counter, where Moira was fiddling around with what looked like a stick with some green crap on the end.
The red-head looked up from her work with a beaming smile. "Well whataya know! It's one of my favorite customers. What do you have for me this time, Maverick?"
Maverick quickly did his business with her, making sure to get some stimpaks and ammo before asking the billion cap question. "Did a girl wearing a vault jumpsuit stop by here recently?" he asked, counting his remaining caps before sticking them into his pouch. He would have to wrap them later.
"Oh! You mean Leyah? She's the greatest! She agreed to help me with my book. Isn't that fantastic? I-"
"Moira!"
"Yes?"
Maverick pinched the bridge of his nose. This was why she pissed him off. "Look, I know how she is. She goes out of her way for people. Now, where is she now? Do you know?"
Moira gave him a blank stare before smirking at him. "You're the one that gave her the rifle, aren't you? I always enjoy seeing your strays come in here."
"Moira," Maverick warned, giving her a hard look.
"Oh right! You're looking for her. Well, I saw her head towards the bar earlier. I think she and Gob have become good friends. He might know where she is."
"Thank you," Maverick sighed. Jesus, that took forever.
If Maverick remembered Megaton being a piece of shit, Moriarty's bar was no exception and it won the fucking award.
Maverick looked around as he walked in, feeling frustrated when he didn't see the familiar blonde ponytail anywhere. He walked up to the bar and sat down. Buying a drink always led to information here.
"Wow, long time no see Maverick," Gob's gravelly voice exclaimed.
Maverick met the ghoul's eyes and nodded. "You too. Being treated like shit still?"
Gob sighed and set a glass of vodka in front of him. "Nothing's changed since your last visit."
"Gob, remember that little piece of advice I gave you a little while back? Use it," Maverick retorted, taking a swig of the vodka and setting some caps down on the table.
Gob's eyes widened and he vigorously shook his head. "Oh no, I can't do that! I'll get run out of Megaton if I did! Not to mention that Moriarty has been in an extra bad mood lately so I wouldn't have a chance."
Maverick perked up at that. Moriarty was usually in a bad mood when he was drunk or if he got cheated out of some money. "And why's that?"
"A girl from the Vault-she's really nice but I was surprised to hear this- she told Moriarty that she took care of Silver in Springvale a couple weeks ago and paid him caps for info. Apparently she lied and Silver is alive."
No shit, Maverick thought, holding back a satisfied smirk. He knew Vaultie had a lot of spunk and she was the last thing from dumb. She must have played Moriarty like a fiddle if he was pissed off. "Where is she now, Gob?"
Gob narrowed his eyes. "You're not going to hurt her are ya?"
Maverick almost growled in frustration. "Now why would I want to do that Gob?"
Gob's eyes suddenly widened and his mouth dropped open. "She said she got that rifle from someone nearby! I forgot you helped people like that. Sorry, she mentioned something about running an errand for Moira before heading toward the Galaxy News Radio station this morning."
"What in the hell is she doing for Moria?" Maverick suddenly remembered something Moira mentioned earlier. "Don't tell me she's helping with that damn survival guide."
"Uh, yeah. I think she's heading toward the RobCo factory."
"Shit," Maverick cursed, setting his glass down. Getting up, he tossed about 20 caps to the ghoul. "Thanks Gob, you just helped me out big time. I'll remember this."
Gob stared at the extra caps in surprise. "Maverick, why do you always-"
"Because I know Moriarty pays you shit. Don't question it," Maverick argued, already walking toward the door. Unfortunately, his least favorite person in Megaton happened to be walking in right as he reached for the doorknob.
Colin Moriarty's thin lips instantly drew up into a smirk at the sight of Maverick. "Well now, if it isn't our favorite babysitter," he drawled, closing the door behind him.
Maverick was having none of it today. "Fuck off." He sidestepped the bar owner and reached for the door.
"Maverick, do you happen to know how Silver is doing? I sent someone out there about a month ago and I never got word."
Gritting his teeth, Maverick looked over his shoulder and he saw Gob waving his arms and shaking his head in an almost comical manner behind his boss' back. "Why do you want to know? So you can fuck her six ways to Sunday again?"
Moriarty's mouth turned down into a scowl. "Look, I know you know what's going on. You tell that Vault girl that she better watch her back from now on. She's getting off easy this time because she's James' kid."
That was it. The combination of being in Megaton in general, Moira's rambling, and Moriarty's shit caused Maverick's temper to finally boil over. He whipped around and grabbed Moriarty's collar before throwing him against the door. He pressed his forearm against the asshole's neck and leaned in close. "Let me make this clear so that your piss poor mind can fucking understand. Touch her. Do anything to hurt her, and I will rip you a new asshole myself. And you know I will," he threatened in as even of a tone he could manage.
Moriarty had met his gaze brazenly at first, but he quickly looked away when Maverick's glare didn't waver.
Maverick snorted in disgust and let the bar owner drop to a heap on the floor. He looked over his shoulder at Gob again and nodded with a small smile. He stepped over Moriarty and opened the door, giving the bar owner one last glare before finally stepping out the door.
Leyah's breath came out in nervous puffs as she peered over the large boulders she was hiding behind. She could see the large RobCo letters on the side of the building about 600 feet away. What kept her from walking right up to it was the large group of men standing in front of it. From the little pieces of armor Maverick had shown her, she could tell they were slavers.
The Vault dweller was slowly becoming impatient and was wondering when the men would leave. She wanted to get this errand for Moira done as quickly as possible so she could head toward the Galaxy News Radio station as soon as she could.
Those asshole slavers were making that goal impossible.
She stiffened when she heard a light crunch of a boot hitting gravel behind her. She readjusted her rifle in her grip, trying to act like she didn't hear. When she heard another crunch, she quickly pivoted around and raised the gun up, only to let out a light gasp of surprise.
Maverick held up his hands with a wry smirk. "Well, you got better at listening, I'll give you that."
Leyah rolled her eyes and brought her rifle down, hitting the safety button. "What the hell, Maverick? What are you doing here?"
The tall man shrugged and squatted down beside her, looking down at the group of slavers. "I was thinking about the debt I owe your dad, and I figured just teaching you some basics wasn't enough. I'm helping you find him. Now, what do you see down there?"
Leyah scowled at him. Okay, so he basically tossed her out on her ass saying 'Good luck' and now he wants to help her again? "So you're not going to get butt hurt if I ask questions this time?" she jabbed, turning back around. Now she remembered, she was supposed to be irritated with him.
In all honesty, she was glad he was there. During the couple weeks she spent learning from him, he proved to be a damn super soldier. But, her irritation told her to ignore that fact for now. "Don't think I'm not mad at you still just because you're here now. You basically kicked me out and-"
Maverick rolled his eyes. "Look Vaultie, I'll argue with you about this after we get done with whatever Moira wants you to do. Now, answer my damn question."
Leyah scoffed and gestured toward the factory. "There's a group of slavers down there, from what their weapons and armor looks like. I can't really tell how many or if they have slaves with them or not."
A tired sigh left Maverick's mouth. "Shit, we'll have to wait this one out. From what I can tell there's about 10 of them down there and we won't get out unscathed with that number. Unless," he paused and looked at her, "you have one of the other things that can solve any problem."
Leyah's eyes widened. She had a small pouch of frag grenades in her pack and she could immediately see what he was hinting at. "I do. But how do you want to do this? Should we climb on the roof and see what happens or-"
"No, the roof is too tall. It'll explode in the air if we tried."
"So what do we do?"
Maverick hummed in thought before his eyes widened and he pushed down on the top of her head. "Get down!" he whispered harshly, ducking down himself.
Leyah grunted in surprise and did what she was told, holding her breath in fear. She looked up and suddenly realized how close she was to him. In his haste to get her to duck, she somehow slipped underneath his arm and was now almost pressed up against his side. His eyes scanned the area behind them, narrowing as he checked the horizon for any other enemies. If she didn't realize how big he was compared to her then, she sure did now.
Her heart started to thud in fear as a cold sweat broke out on her skin.
Maverick slowly sat up straighter and peered over the rock again. "Fuck, they saw us. I'm going to get my rifle out. You cover me. Got it?"
Leyah's heart was threatening to burst out of her chest and her stomach rolled uncomfortably now. She didn't have to kill anyone these past two weeks. The occasional radscorpion and mole rat, yes. Humans; nope.
Maverick quickly reached into his pack and started to assemble a high powered rifle. Leyah stared in surprise when he had it ready in what seemed like seconds. He nodded at her and set up the gun. "Remember what I taught you. Then you can bug me with annoying questions all you fucking want."
For some reason, his sarcastic comment caused the anxiety she was feeling to calm down a bit and she nodded. She was determined to find her Dad. Picking on Maverick was just a plus. Before she could get turned around even, he was already aiming toward the couple scouts heading toward them.
Maverick shot and Leyah peered around the boulder to see the first scout fall. She brought her own assault rifle up and took aim, feeling queasy as she pulled the trigger. She flinched as she second scout fell with a shout. Her stomach twisted and she felt physically sick as she stared at the body.
"Here they come. Reload now," Maverick ordered calmly, doing just that.
His calm tone helped focus her mind and she quickly followed orders, easily slipping in a new set of bullets. The slavers were now taking cover behind boulders and cars themselves. Luckily, they didn't see where their first shots came from.
"I'm going to try to hit the gas tank on some of those cars. Keep gunning them down when they get too close."
How is he so calm right now? Leyah momentarily wondered. She wanted to run for the hills and get away from the slavers, not stick around and get shot. But, there he was, calmly and carefully aiming his sniper rifle and easily hitting his targets.
Shaking the thought out of her mind, she peered around the boulder again, lightly gasping when she saw a couple slavers start running toward them. Just think of them as radroaches or something, she thought, feeling sick again. The idea didn't help her mentally, but it made pulling the trigger easier.
She yelped when the shrill sound of bullets hitting stone reached her ears and she quickly hid behind the boulder again. Well, at least she got the two slavers running toward them before she hid.
"Sit tight, Vaultie," Maverick suddenly growled, standing up straight.
"Are you nuts?!"
He shot and quickly ducked down again, reloading the rifle. "You might want to cover your ears," he said, standing up again.
Leyah opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but the sound of his gun and the explosion that immediately followed it beat her to the punch. She squeaked and covered her head when bits of debris and metal started to fall around them.
She slowly opened her eyes many moments later to see Maverick's smirk looking down at her. "Coast is clear, Vaultie."
They both cautiously stood up and slowly looked around. When it seemed that no more slavers were going to pop out of nowhere, they finally left their hiding spot.
Maverick's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the landscape again before grunting in satisfaction. "Well, that's about 10 pieces of shit gone from this world," he grumbled.
Leyah narrowed her own eyes at him and her irritation from earlier started to bubble up again. As he knelt down to begin to take the sniper rifle apart, she walked over and stood in front of him, crossing her arms with a huff. "Well, now that that's over, I can yell at you now. Seriously? What the hell are you doing here? You obviously stated that I didn't need your help anymore a couple weeks ago and I was doing just fine!"
"Until you got here."
Leyah rolled her eyes with a snort. "Oh please, I was going to wait them out and I would have been fine. Why do you want to help again in the first place? Last I checked you wanted nothing to do with me anymore."
Maverick sighed and looked up at her with a hard stare. "Look, Vaultie, I don't care if you want my help or not. I've decided to make this personal. And, there's nothing you can do about it."
Rubbing her eyes in faint shock, she gasped. "President Eden, is that you? I didn't know you actually left the Enclave to boss people around," Leyah retorted, putting her hands on her hips.
Maverick stiffened and Leyah had to use all over her willpower to stand her ground as he stood up and towered over her. Craning her neck to look up at him, she made the best stink face she could. "You don't want my help? Fine. I'll just follow you and just sit and watch whenever you get your little ass in trouble, be my guest."
Leyah stuck her lip out in a pout and furrowed her brow. "I'm not mad that you want to help, idiot."
With a scoff, he stuffed his rifle into his pack. "Oh please. Don't tell me you want me to apologize or something."
Crossing her arms, Leyah began to tap her foot in impatience, frowning at him.
"You're fucking serious, aren't you?"
"Very. Now, just admit that you threw me out and we'll call it good."
He stared at her in disbelief before letting out a guffaw. "Nice try, Vaultie."
Leyah's mouth pinched into a hard line as she stared at him in disbelief. He started to walk away and she took that opportunity to get through to him the only way she knew how. She hooked her foot around his ankle and pulled, effectively causing him to lose his balance.
He cursed and did what she knew he would do. He instantly recovered and got in a fighting stance. "What the fuck?!"
"You won't listen to words! I'm doing the only other thing I can," she snapped.
"Good luck. I know all your tricks."
It was true, so she took his very first lesson to heart. Strike first; strike hard. Leyah sighed and tried to relax, getting out of her fighting stance.
"That's what I thought," he snorted, moving to turn away.
Leyah instantly reared her arm back and couldn't help but feel satisfied when her punch successfully connected with his jaw. She didn't hesitate to land a jab to his ribs before shoving him over. Before he could recover and get up, she pulled out her pistol and aimed it at him.
They glared at each other for many moments before Leyah scoffed and said, "That's what I thought."
She holstered her pistol and started to stomp toward RobCo, not even bothering to look back.
What the actual fuck? Maverick cursed to himself.
It had been years, literally years, since someone handed his ass to him like that. He quickly got up and growled in frustration. She wanted an apology? He'll give her a fucking apology.
"Vaultie, wait!"
The damn girl just kept walking and he grit his teeth, picking up his pace. "Leyah," he said, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around.
"What?!" she seethed, glaring up at him.
Maverick met her gaze and he sighed. "Look, we can argue about this all we want, but have you ever considered that I don't get personal because-" He paused and looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath. "I don't get personal because talking about my past hurts. It always will. That's why I kicked you out and I'm sorry. Can we get going now?"
He looked away, avoiding her eyes as he walked toward the entrance to the factory.
"Why didn't you just say so?"
He paused and looked at her over his shoulder. Vaultie rolled her eyes with an amused grin. "Jeez Mav, if you just told me that it hurts to talk about it, I would have shut up. I'm not stupid."
"Don't call me Mav," Maverick growled. Only his sister got to call him that and get away with it.
Vaultie caught up to him and started to walk by his side. "I mean, yeah I wanted to know more about you but I thought you were just being stubborn. I would have completely understood if-"
Maverick eventually tuned her out as she kept rambling on. He looked down at her, wondering why he wasn't getting annoyed like he usually would. Something's wrong with me, he mused, finally telling her to shut up.
They reached the main entrance and they were both mildly surprised to find it unlocked. "Vaultie, what the fuck are you doing here anyway?" Maverick asked, peering around the edge of the doorway.
"Oh! Moira wanted to write a little about technology so she gave me this processor widget to connect to the mainframe. It shouldn't be too hard."
Maverick sighed and opened the door all the way. "Whatever, let's get this over with."
Vaultie nodded and held up her rifle, stepping inside. She scanned the room and slowly made her way forward, just like he taught her.
He knew she wasn't a lost cause.
Hacking the mainframe and actually connecting the widget was a little harder than Leyah thought it would be, but she didn't let that deter her. She was able to reset the robots orders to kill all the radroaches and mole rats though, which was a plus.
She turned away from the mainframe, feeling satisfied. It was short lived as Maverick grabbed her left arm and pulled her toward him. "Hey-"
"Quiet."
Leyah rolled her eyes as he examined her Pip-boy and looked at the time.
"Shit, it's that late already. We're not going anywhere tonight."
Leyah frowned and looked at the time herself with a groan. Making their way through the factory took longer than she expected. By the time they got back out again, it would be dark and Leyah learned the downsides of traveling at night during her first couple days in the wasteland.
Maverick suddenly poked her cheek and Leyah slapped his hand away in annoyance. She was also surprised that the little touch hurt a little. "What?!"
"You're sunburnt. I thought there were lights that mimicked the sun down in the Vaults," he stated, setting his pack down.
"Well, yeah, but they didn't cause sunburns," Leyah grumbled, tentatively touching her face.
She looked at Maverick and arched a brow when she saw him digging through his pack. "You know Vaultie, I'm starting to think all of the Vaults are big holes for crazy people after all you've told me. Well, at least the ones that are still functional are."
Setting her own pack down, she gave him a questioning look as she sat beside him. "What do you mean? How many Vaults are around here?"
Maverick waved the question off. "A lot. Trust me, you don't want to go in those. I made the mistake of trying to scav in one a little north of downtown a long time ago. Bad idea."
Leyah pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "What happened?"
He sighed, giving her a weary look. "It looked like a war-zone. I wouldn't be surprised if the other's looked the same."
Leyah stiffened with a quick inhale. "You mean…the people turned on each other?"
"Yeah, that's what I got from the carnage and holotapes."
With a shudder, Leyah wondered what could have happened if the people in 101 turned on each other. Sure, she fought her way out of the Vault, but she didn't kill anyone in the process. She couldn't imagine a full blown conflict down there.
Shaking the thoughts away, Leyah moved to help Maverick set up traps in front of the door and the hallway. After those were set, Maverick easily shoved a filing cabinet and a desk in front of the door after shutting it. She wondered what it must be like to have that strength as she watched him get them situated the way he wanted.
Leyah set out her bedroll and plopped down onto it, suddenly feeling all the weariness from today starting to settle in. "Get some sleep. It will be a trek to get to GNR tomorrow."
"Maverick?" she asked, lying down.
"What?"
"Is it okay if we stop by the Arlington Library before going further into the ruins? I have another errand to run for Moira there and it's on the way, right?"
Maverick gave her an even stare before grinning and letting out a snort of laughter. "Vaultie, I'm following you now. I go where you go," he said, laying down his own bedroll.
Leyah couldn't help but grin as she turned over.
She was happy he was there.