Willow chews on her fingernails, silent now as she walks far quicker than she had been before. MacCready easily falls into step beside her, and as he watches her glance periodically over her shoulder, he finds himself growing more and more paranoid with each passing moment.
"So... should I be worried?" he asks, hyper-vigilant as they carry on, but Willow doesn't reply. This irritates MacCready, who sighs. "Hello? Anyone home?"
"It's fine." she replies hastily.
"Is it?" Maggie challenges, striding alongside Willow now on her other side. "I thought you severed all your ties in Diamond City. Someone there obviously still knows you. Knows how to reach you. Knows you knew me." Her eyes widen, and she smiles but it's not a pleasant smile as she clasps her hands together and gasps. "Oh, Willow. Do you think they're looking for me again?"
Meanwhile, MacCready is talking over Maggie. "Who was that girl on the poster?" he asks, brows furrowed. "Friend of yours?" When Willow doesn't answer again, he looks outward and has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "You know, I told you about myself. I feel like now it's your turn to do the same. That's usually how these things work." He tries to barter.
"Ooh, if they've reopened my case, just imagine all the stuff that robot's gonna dig up!" Maggie squeals, her excitement channeling directly into Willow and manifesting as intense nervous energy.
The noise. The noise, it is so loud. MacCready's voice battling Maggie's for dominance is rapidly becoming overwhelming when all Willow wants is silence to think, and so she draws in a sharp breath, her fists balled, and shouts, "Shut up!"
Instantly, Maggie disappears from Willow's side. MacCready also quiets, slowing a bit as he is taken aback by the outburst. He watches her with narrowed eyes. Willow swallows, feeling immediately terrible, and looks over her shoulder to the mercenary. "S-Sorry..." she stammers. "I just... I need to think."
"No problem, boss." MacCready's tone is frigid and unsure, perhaps slightly mocking as he opts to keep his mouth shut now and focus instead on his job as Willow's bodyguard.
His eyes flick to Willow every so often, though, and he is consumed by a gnawing curiousity. He wonders to himself who the girl on the poster was and wishes he had kept one. He hadn't even caught the name on it – Margaret? Megan? And who was this girl to Willow – perhaps, he thinks, it is who she has been working to avenge. But then... why? Was she a friend? A sister? No, the girl on the poster didn't look anything like her.
Willow is mysterious, alluring, and infuriatingly taciturn in regards to her personal life. It only makes MacCready want to know more. But he doesn't push any further for now – he knows better than that.
He does, however, notice movement nearby, and he gently grabs Willow's arm as he slows to observe. "Hey." he says, and Willow stops, turning her head to look in the direction that MacCready points.
There sits a lone raider atop the roof of a rusted, decrepit old car. His legs are crossed, back to Willow and MacCready, and he doesn't notice them as he rolls up his sleeve. Willow notes what appears to be a syringe beside him and quickly deduces that he is here to find a quiet spot to do his chems.
"You said bird boy was a chem dealer, right?" MacCready asks, voice dropping low despite them being a good enough distance away that it was unlikely that the raider would hear them anyway. "If this is his territory, then I'll bet our pal over here has some idea where to find him."
Willow nods, put off slightly by MacCready's cold tone but she doesn't dwell too long on it. "Let's go find out." she whispers, pulling her lazer rifle from her back and creeping over to where the man sits.
"Lay that pistol down, babe, lay that pistol down. Pistol packin' mama, lay that pistol down!" the raider sings to himself off key, bouncing along lightly to the words as he reaches for the syringe of Med-X he has procured himself. But as his fingers curl around it, he hears a click and feels the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head, which quickly stops his grooving as he freezes up.
"Don't move." MacCready warns him as Willow circles the man, her own rifle pointed at him as well. The raider gasps and he puts his hands up in surrender, though his eyes are wild and unpredictable.
Willow's gaze shifts to the Med-X, and she nods to him. "Where did you get that?" she asks.
"Found it." the raider lies quickly, and Willow makes eye contact with MacCready who responds by thwapping the man in the side of the head with his gun. The raider whines and grabs at his matted hair, and Willow steps forward.
"Liar. It was from Pigeon, wasn't it?" she asks. The raider scowls at her, but then a grimey smile spreads across his face and he snickers lowly.
"I ain't tellin' you shit you ugly bitch." he says, and then he abruptly twists his body in an attempt to grab the barrel of MacCready's gun and disarm him. MacCready is faster, though, and he jerks away from the raider as he moves to try and crawl over the car toward him. He doesn't get very far before Willow squeezes the trigger of her gun and hits him right in the knee with a beam of concentrated lazer energy. The raider howls with pain and collapses atop the roof of the car, clutching his knee which now looks akin to grisly, half-cooked hamburger. He rolls about as Willow nimbly climbs the automobile and kneels beside him.
"Wanna try that again?" she challenges with malice, and the raider tearfully cackles again through the pain then shakes his head, before turning and wailing once more. Willow rolls her eyes and reaches into her pocket, produces the Stimpak she had stolen from Sadie, and slaps her hand on top of the car beneath her feet to get the raider's attention. "Let's make a deal." she proposes, waving the Stimpak lightly at him, just out of his reach. "Tell me where to find Pigeon, and I'll fix your leg riiiight up." Her voice is calm and misleadingly nurturing, but it does well to lull the raider into a false sense of comfort so he settles a bit.
"Fine, yes. Yes, I got it from Pigeon!" he says, then reaches for the Stimpak which Willow pulls back. He groans in frustration and pain. "Give me that!"
MacCready chuckles, gun still aimed at the raider's head albeit from a few steps away now. "Woah, now. I think you oughta give us a bit more than that." he says, and the raider thrashes about in frustration like a child having a tantrum. The motion sends pain shooting through his leg, though, and he whimpers and grabs for his knee again.
"What?!" he shrieks. "What else do you want to know?!"
Willow smiles. "Good boy." she praises derisively. "Where might we find Mr. Pigeon?"
The raider squeezes his eyes shut as he tries not to throw up from the pain in his knee, then inhales sharply through his teeth. "Our boss usually meets him up at the old crashed plane. I-It's just North of here, you can't miss it!" he says frantically, eyes desperately glued to the Stimpak Willow lords over him. "I-I think he's supposed to meet him tonight! Or... Or maybe tomorrow morning, I-I don't know, please!" he begs.
Willow is satisfied with the answer, but still, she narrows her eyes and leans down. "If I find out you're lying..."
"I'm not. I'm not, I swear to you on my mother's grave!"
"Good." she says, smiles, and holds the Stimpak out to him. The raider sighs with relief, and doesn't even notice when Willow turns toward MacCready and gestures with her head and waggles her eyebrows.
But MacCready notices – and he promptly puts a bullet through his skull before he can reach the Stimpak. His body falls limp on the car, and Willow immediately digs into his pockets as MacCready lowers his gun. "Well?" he asks, watching her expectantly. She pulls two measly caps from the man's pocket and flips one toward MacCready.
"Keep the change." she says, then stands and hops off the car. MacCready catches the cap and rolls it along his fingers.
"How generous." he jokes dryly, then checks his watch. "We should go. Only a few hours before the sun starts to set."
"Yeah." Willow agrees, hands on her hips, "We got a plane to catch."
There is a beat of silence between the two, then MacCready cocks an eyebrow. "Are you done? With the one-liners?" he asks, deadpan, and Willow nods in defeat and chews her lip, refusing to make eye contact with the man who is now trying not to smile.
"Yeah, I'm done." she says.
"Good." MacCready finally smirks. "'Cause that's not gonna fly."
Willow blinks, groans, rolls her eyes, and then turns to walk away to hide the grin on her face. "No?" MacCready asks as he hurries after her, and Willow masks her laughter with a cough as she leads on.