Standing right outside the northern door leading to Freeside, Six was minding her own business, checking out the shape of the horizon as she waited for her two companions to show up. The warmth was bearable and the life outside of the inner wall made it feel almost safe as if merchants and caravans going about with their business meant that scavengers had not ruined anyone's day so far.
Six was tracing random patterns in the sand, her mind bored and absent, much so that she didn't even hear both Arcade and Boone walk towards her.
"Looking for gold?" Arcade mocked, making the woman jump out of her contemplating state.
"Hey, you and your snarky remark are late, I've been here for a long time, I could've gotten shot you know?" she feigned offense, leaning over to greet Boone with a friendly punch on the shoulder.
Boone frowned.
"I'm ready to head out," the man said, rolling back his shoulder. He had somehow, really felt that punch. "How far, Arcade? Are they expecting us?"
Arcade shrugged, joining Six' side and putting both hands on his hips, gazing away at the distance.
"Not so much, we should be there in an hour or so," he turned back to look at Boone. "And no, they are not expecting us, but as a Follower myself, I know we are on good terms. You two just play nice and everything should be settled quickly."
"You said an hour, Arcade," Boone said between his teeth, sweat dripping from beneath his beret. "We've been walking for a lot more than that, plus we had to fend off some fiends."
Arcade rolled his eyes as he leaned onto the crippled wall of the building they had taken cover behind. In the middle of a ghost town, fiends had come out of nowhere, sending a few bullets on the group's way before being taken down. The fight had ended as fast as it had started but on a journey that was supposed to be eventless, irritation had lodged itself within the group.
"They moved, apparently, they do that from time to time," Arcade breathed out, taking a map out of his vest and checking it out. "They have a pattern and they allowed us to keep track of them."
Frustrated, Boone took a few steps forwards, aiming to snatch the map from Arcade's hands but was a tad too slow for Arcade had swiftly moved away, stashing the map away.
"No, my friend," Arcade scoffed. "This is not for your eyes to see. The Vals trusted us with this, I can't let anyone else see this. I know where they should be now and we are certain to be there before they head off again."
"Fine," Six sighed deeply, moving between to two men to push them forward. "Let's just get there, Benny has had me walking into way too much sand to dawdle any further."
The night was settling on the Mojave when the group finally came upon the settlement they had been after for almost a whole day. Down a hill and between two buildings filled with sand, a cozy-looking community had planted their roots and seemed to prepare for the night. As expected, mostly women were touring the parameters, armed to the teeth and with a ruthlessness about them that made the group choose to approach carefully with holstered weapons.
"Let me go first and look friendly," Arcade whispered as they started going down the hill, their feet sinking into the sand, almost making them glide down.
"Ah, great, more sand in my shoes," Six sighed.
As the group got closer, they noticed a few heads turn in their direction, patrolling guards halting momentarily to spot them and a silent stir took place in the middle of the settlement.
"There are a few men here," Boone noted, his piercing eyes spotting even the furthest guard.
"They are not exclusively women," Arcade clarified, keeping his voice low since they were getting closer. "There is one man here who is particularly impressive but, not is the sexy way. You'll know when you- "
The flap of a tent flew up and out of the darkness of it, emerged a man, at first normal, but as he unrolled himself to his full length, Six let out a surprised whistle.
"Yeah," Arcade simply said. "You'll know when you see him…"
The ridiculously tall man towered above the people around him, making them all look like children. Not only was he tall, but his shape was also incredibly impressive as if all made of muscles and strength.
"That's the kind of guy who clearly eats the heart of his enemies, I tell ya." Six let out a nervous chuckle, now noticing that the man had laid eyes on them.
At first, the expression in the man's eyes transpired nothing but raw hostility but quickly switched back to neutral when he spotted a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse among the group. With a few words to the people around him, the man started making his way towards the newcomers, people now spreading away from the center of the settlement.
"No one told me the Followers were paying us a visit," the man's voice came as a low rumble. "They rarely surprise us."
"Do you think that's Benny's wife?" Six whispered a chuckle to Boone's ear.
Boone frowned, stepping slightly away from her and her badly timed jest.
"We are not here for business today, it's a more personal matter and we are hoping to get Rhexa to help us with that," Arcade said, taking a few steps closer to the man.
The man scoffed, crossing his two muscled arms over his as-muscled chest. Six frowned lightly, noticing that the man had something odd about himself. Blonde hair, cut short as if in the military and eyes shining with an odd colour. Even his skin seemed out of place, like a complexion she had never seen before and oddly white for someone living out in the Mojave.
"Tell me how she can help you and I'll take this to her," the man said. "Then she will decide if this is worth her time or not."
Arcade raised his eyebrows, turning to look at both Boone and Six, all knowing they could not truly say the real reason for their presence here on that night. They all looked at each other for a moment, then a spark appeared in Six's eyes and as the guys mouthed "no" to her, she opened her mouth.
"It's about a chip, something that has some great value and that guy, Benny, has taken it from me."
At the name drop, the tall man's features' hardened and he quickly glanced over his shoulder. As he was about to shove the group back into the hill they had just come down from, the flap of yet another tent flew up and a woman came out of it, a dead serious look on her face.
"A chip?" the woman spoke clearly, her voice piercing through Six' s throat.
"That's her," Arcade whispered. "That's Rhexa."
Six swallowed back the jest she was aiming to throw at the women to ease off the tension, figuring that making jokes about her tall guard right there would set matters on fire rather than doing any good. Walking towards them confidently, the woman known as Rhexa truly came as a surprise. Nothing Six could have pictured as the wife of that well-suited thug she had the displeasure of coming across.
With Olive skin, long black hair held in a ponytail and a well-muscled body, the woman's traits were hard and unforgiving, the same face any women surviving in the Mojave would bear. Despite her piercing eyes and leather armor, she had clearly been beautiful at some point but the long slash of a scar across her face, from the corner of her right eyebrow to the left corner of her mouth, spoiled what would have been a flawless woman.
"You said Benny and Chip in the same sentence," She said, coming up to Six and staring down at her. "You've come here because you know who I am and I'm guessing you are hoping to get my help making him pay, yes?"
The group exchanged an awkward look before turning back to face Rhexa.
"I don't mean no harm," Six lied, trying to sound casual. "I just want my chip back, that's all."
"That fucking thing," Rhexa said almost to herself, her eyes still locked on Six. "If Benny has it, there is no way he is letting that go without dying. I'm not sure how you think I can help. I'm not going to help you kill him."
"Look, I just really want that back, alright? I'm ready to do pretty much anything just to - " Six started to argue but was cut rapidly.
"You are not the only one who wants that chip and to my knowledge, you must not really understand what that thing can do if you are willing to throw that word around like it's nothing," Rhexa said, narrowing her eyes. "You want revenge because he stole it from you."
Six scoffed angrily, her emotions now a tad too raw to ignore. Boone reached out to keep her from moving forward but she pushed his arm back.
"That prick didn't just steal from me," she spat, the anger from what happened to her now resurging like lava out of a volcano. "He fucking shot me in the head - twice! I was just a stupid courier trying to do my fucking job and that horrible man decided that I needed to be killed and left me out in an unmarked grave near some village!"
"Six…" Arcade warned her.
"I mean, you live miles away from the strip and rumor has it, you two aren't together anymore. I'm guessing that it was because he is an asshole and like, everyone I met hates him."
Rhexa had now taken a few steps back, her arms crossed as she looked down on the women with both her eyebrows up.
"You - " Six scoffed when she saw the unperturbed expression on the woman's face. "You don't even seem to care if people hate him so why protect him?"
"I'm used of having people hating him and wanting him dead, trust me, you're not the first person to come to me to get to him," Rhexa let out a somewhat amused chuckle. "I have a lot of issues with him myself. You are not entirely wrong, I did leave the Tops because things were terrible with my husband. Still, I won't let anyone harm him, not if I can help it."
"But why?" Six was incredulous. "He's nothing more than a thug and clearly he was a shit husband if you had to leave."
"Because I don't want my son to lose his dad," Rhexa said flat-out, glancing around before slowly turning on her heels. "Look, I won't help you kill him but, maybe you and I can be beneficial for each other. If you say Benny has the chip in his hands right now, it means that the odds have changed in the game and for my sake, I need to look into that matter. We can talk about it tomorrow. I'll allow your group to settle here tonight and we can go over this again. For now, I need to think."
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