[SEQUEL TO GUN FOR HIRE]
Chapter 5: How the Mighty Have Fallen

Piper sucked in a long breath after she closed her door, turning to lean against it. Her eyes slipped shut and information buzzed in her brain. Capital Wasteland. Harkness. Dr. Zimmer. She watched Sarah's reactions and expressions just as much as Luki's after he closed his eyes to recant his old tale, groping and struggling to fill in the missing memory gaps.

Suffice to say, he was in hot water with Sarah.

Piper stripped her trench coat after she grabbed a pack of cigarettes, heading over to the window to open it and lean against the sill as she smoked. The tendrils whisked away, the orange glow a comfort, but it all felt hollow as a sinful emotion nagged her. The more Luki and Sarah got comfortable around the reporter, the more they reached out to each other in subtle ways, and the more Piper wished she could do the same. Or explode. She took the cigarette out of her mouth as she dipped the ashes outside, looking up at the night sky. Her lips struggled to curl in a strained smile when her thoughts wandered to the night Garrett was 'just kidding'.

There was going to be more hell to pay for that, even if he made up for it afterwards. It still made her blood boil and that was enough for her. She lit one cigarette after another until she finished a whole pack, sorting through all the notes she could scribble down until her hand ached from it all. Most of it were small details, probably not even important - but she hoped every little thing would eventually paint the bigger picture.

Luki's muffled cuss broke her from her reverie and she pulled back from the sill to stare at the door, chuckling when she heard Sarah in the room across the hallway. "Oh, quit being a baby! You've survived worse than this."

"But this hurts..."

That was the second time Piper's heard he survived worse, and she was honestly starting to grow frightened of the two. She got snippets of their endeavors when she derailed Luki from his story about the Institute, though Sarah was sharp enough to figure out what the reporter was trying to do, and immediately redirected Luki back to Harkness.

How were they supposed to trust each other when a lot of things were still shrouded in secret? And what the heck did Leo have to do with whatever mission they were supposedly on? Piper's curiosity had a penchant for keeping her up at night, but she had to focus. She went back to her notepad and flipped through the pages as she digested every note, trying to connect the dots.

Nowhere did it ever hint where the Institute was located.

Frustration built the longer she stared at her notes, and eventually she gave up. She snuffed out her cigarette and hid her notepad in her back pocket as she strode to bed. Her cheeks warmed when she swore she caught a stifled moan in Leo's room. That didn't take him long. Piper groaned when thuds knocked against the wall and creaks shot out; there was no way she was going to get any sleep tonight. She donned her jacket and slipped out, heading to the room across from hers where Luki cursed like never before. She steeled herself as she gently rapped her knuckles on the door.

"Um... Sorry to bother you two, but I'm going to head down to the Rail and have a couple of drinks." Translation: mooch freebies. "I should be back within the hour."

Hopefully Leo would be... Done... By then.

Before she had a chance to leave, Sarah opened the door and gestured inside. "Put yourself to use instead. I'm almost done cleaning his wounds, but we still have to bandage them." The reporter chewed her lip and looked down the hallway when a significantly louder moan broke through the walls, and Sarah sighed. "We've got a radio in here." Her piercing eyes narrowed, cold as ice. "It's the least you can do for him. He did save you."

"If she doesn't want to-" Luki started, but trailed off and smiled nervously when Sarah simply turned her head to look at him.

"Can you teach me how to do that? Garrett never shuts up even when I ask him to." Piper blurted, cringing when the stoic gaze snapped back to her. She was sure Sarah was a lovely woman, and probably somewhat friendly, but everything she was doing was screaming stay the hell away.

And then Sarah smiled.

"Get your ass in here already then, civilian."

"Civilian?" Piper huffed, her chest puffing as she confidently strode inside. "Last I checked, you're one too. You did say you're not with the Brotherhood anymore."

"Oh, she's got you there, Sarah," Luki chuckled. It immediately stopped when Sarah turned her head to him again. That sweet smile of hers was enough to turn a giant of a man into a baby as Sarah approached him, and he scrambled backwards on the bed as he held out his hand. "Wait, wait! I surrender!"

"I don't take prisoners," Sarah lilted; make no mistake, she may have looked unimposing, but this woman could definitely give a deathclaw a run for it's caps.

Conflicting feelings brewed in Piper again, and she leaned against the wall as she watched, however awkward, as Sarah commanded the situation with ease and treated the man who clearly wasn't just a 'friend' or subordinate. Jealousy sparked and Piper averted her gaze to the ceiling as she closed her eyes before she witnessed Luki leaning up to kiss the woman in a valiant effort to disarm her.

Tears burned hot, and Piper nibbled on her tongue as she suppressed the urge to scream. It was only a few days ago where she was horsing around with Garrett in the same way.

What if she never got to ever again?

Desperation gnarled around her heart, and though she wished to bark at them to get a move on and head to the Railroad right this second, no matter how foolish, she bit her tongue and tried to focus on facts as her brain continued to demystify the puzzles in her notepad. If only everybody else could understand what it felt like to be in her shoes; this whole city went about their day as if it was nothing special, and yet her whole world had fundamentally changed because of one missing person.

Moans and laughter bled out to the white noise and the memories, but she was snapped out of it by a gentle hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked down - on the verge of tears - as Sarah quietly offered a ratty rag. "Sorry," she murmured stiffly, as if she wasn't used to saying it. Piper didn't need any more hints than she had already gotten to figure the ex-soldier didn't seem the type to apologize - and the gesture was appreciated, even if all she wanted was to get out of here.

Piper waved it off and strained a smile as she accepted the rag and wiped her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. It was forced out of her when Sarah held up a stimpak with a sinister smirk. "Torturing him always helps me feel better."

"Now wait just a minute! Haven't I gone through enough?" Luki protested, an exasperated look and hand out in surrender again. Piper chuckled as she took the stimpak and walked over, still caught in a slight daze, though thoroughly amused the giant had even whimpered to this degree; he could easily break both of their bones. Such a baby - as big of a baby as Garrett. She sat on the bed and stared at the stimpak, her memories drifting again.

"You're always trying so hard to cheer me up," she mumbled. "You don't really think we'll get to him in time, do you? So much of it has already passed."

Silence reigned down on the room, and Piper chewed her lip as she closed her eyes before more tears fell. Air was sucked right out of her chest and it felt as if a truck was sitting on her lungs. "The worst part is... I'm surviving, and it's hurting less each day. I don't want that. I don't want to accept the possibility that he's already dead and just start moving on. Things were finally starting to look up and get good between us, and now it's all gone. Just like that. I don't even know where my sister is, or how she feels - I mean, I can imagine what she wants to say and how angry she is right now, but..."

Words tumbled out and she hadn't even known where she was going with her rambling. She pent up everything, rotting inside - or trying to even when it had forced it's way out. The weight of anguish hurt worse than any bullet or cut she had ever suffered. She set the stimpak aside and buried her head in her hands as a dejected sigh tumbled out. "I just wish he was here. I don't care how, or if he drove me crazy, or if we argued, or... I just wish he was here, or around somewhere. Then at least I'd know he's alive and safe."

All Luki could do was offer meager reassurance as he squeezed her shoulder. Sarah hadn't done anything - not that Piper expected her to, since they were still strangers to each other; but it was surprising the woman hadn't just snapped at her for being a 'soft civilian' or something like that. Not yet.

"Stop wishing for it." Sarah's cold words cut, and Luki sucked in a sharp inhale. Piper bit her lip harder - she spoke too soon. She didn't need to look at him to figure he probably disapproved; it sparked curiosity with how their relationship even worked, but then again, the same question could be asked of her and Garrett. They were opposites that just somehow melded seamlessly.

Boots marched and anger nearly guided Piper's temper when a stern hand wrapped around her wrist and tore it away from her face; but there was a fiery determination emblazoned in Sarah's eyes. "Stop wishing for it," she repeated, "get your ass up and start doing something about it. Crying isn't going to bring him home."

Moans turned into screams of euphoria, as if things weren't already awkward enough. Piper flushed fiercely when both Leo and whoever he took to bed with him became crystal clear to hear above the radio, and Luki's head dropped in defeat. Sarah was out the room before he could even finish saying: "don't do it."

Both grimaced at the sounds of Sarah pounding the door and yelling in the hallway, to which was eventually met with Leo yelling back - and refusing to come out to face Sarah's fury. Luki sighed, but halfway it turned into a chuckle. Piper exchanged meek smiles with him until they both started laughing, and she was comforted by the warm sounds as he gently squeezed her shoulder. He patted it before he reached over for the stimpak and held it out to her. "Torturing me will help you feel better."

"Oh, stop it," Piper sniggered, "god. You two are so made for each other, it's scary."

"I know, right?" His lopsided grin eagerly grew into a proud one, and he took a quick deep breath before he injected the stimpak into his ribs. His gaze grew distant, staring into space. "It's been ten years. Crazy how fast time flies... But we haven't always been together."

"Because she's had to keep her distance?"

"Yes... And no." Luki glanced at the doorway, probably to gauge how safe he was. "Sometimes she has difficulty staying close - as you've just witnessed. So she leaves. I still don't really know why. She's never been afraid of being hurt, so I guess she just feels awkward and doesn't know what to do with it. She's a great commander, but she leads in battle; not in conversation."

"But that's where you come in," Piper noted quietly. "Kind of like me and Garrett. I handle the talking. He does the leading. Sort of." She looked up at the ceiling in thought at that, humming. "Actually, no. He doesn't. He just made me 'the Boss' and that's it. He squeezed the trigger, I guess, but so did I." These roles were undefined in her mind, and that was the beginning of what was about to drive her nuts all night. Her nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction.

"Sounds like you're confusing yourself," Luki lilted with great amusement, and he pushed off the bed as he went to go rummage in a knapsack that wasn't hers or Leo's. He pulled out a first aid kit and set it aside on the table, navigating it's contents with ease as he began to apply ointment on his burns. That he remained calm at all for such a drastic injury had to mean he had some sort of medical training, right? Had to. People just weren't like that, no matter how tough they were. There had to be some sort of reason he avoided applying gauze and bandages. Her musing was cut short when she noticed he was smiling to himself.

"So the Sergeant's name was Garrett, huh?"

"Oh, shit," she blurted, her hand coming up over her mouth. Realization dawned. It wasn't the first time she'd used Gat's real name - but that wasn't the biggest blunder here. She knew Luki knew it too, when he suddenly froze and his gaze snapped up to hers, his green eyes full of sorrow instead of life. Piper fidgeted and ran her sweaty palms along her pants as she burned holes in the floor, her mumble falling with her heart.

"Was..."

x - x - x

Remnants of what was were scattered about. This place was trashed and abandoned for some time now, with how there was nearly nothing left. Gat was surprised to see the furniture was still here. He walked around the office with a heavy heart, steeling himself as he went to search Nat's room first. Some of the dresser's drawers were open and empty; good, Piper got the kid out of here too, as he suspected.

What was he supposed to do? They were both just doing what they had to, to survive - to ensure their family's survival too. Bringing Piper back would spell a death sentence for both her and Nat. He wouldn't be able to stomach adopting that little girl for what he had to do to her older sister.

So much for keeping his promise to bring Rose here, so that the two young'uns could play.

There weren't any clues in the house as far as he could see. The terminal was wiped. Piper's room was in the same disarray as Nat's, and there was no food or ammo to be scoured. To find her, he would have to get out of her head, and into another's; there was no way she had any safehouses of her own. Not with how much she had panicked the time they were locked out of the city.

No. He had to get in Cowboy's head, or the other 'Minutemen'. Leo and Luki would have just followed orders as they always have. Where would Cowboy take them? To a settlement?

Time was running out; Gat couldn't afford to go on a chase all over the Commonwealth. It would take him a week to capture Piper, now that she was undoubtedly on high alert and extra cautious. He slithered back outside in the dead of the night and wandered the marketplace. The bitch who ambushed him with her goons wasn't here anymore; if Piper escaped - hopefully with the help of the others, and no injuries - then that better mean the bitch was dead. It gave him a new idea of where to search at least.

Before he left the city, he went to the chapel. He tugged the brim of his army hat lower to block his eyes as he entered and silently took the first pew he saw. He felt others staring at him, and it made him incredibly uncomfortable. There probably wasn't any merit in this; the large part of him screamed that this was utterly stupid and a waste of time, but...

Piper defined what hope meant, and that thread of it in his heart was enough to try whatever the hell he had to. He had forgotten how to pray, though - not that he had ever properly learned of it, since it was always just pleading for some God to save him. If there was a God, why would He let all this happen? Maybe He was punishing Gat - that was understandable; but Piper and her sister didn't deserve any of this. They were good people and they should be rewarded for it.

Someone sat beside him, and it only made him feel even more awkward. He hunched forward and clasped his hands together as he rested his forehead on them. Something poked his ribs the moment a low voice flooded his ear. "Awfully convenient timing of you to come back. You're real calm to find out that she's packed up and left."

"Cowboy," Gat spat under his breath. "Put your gun away. Ain't mannerly of ya to shoot up God's house, innit?"

"Outside. Now."

"Guards will shoot ya up if y'don't put that back in your holster."

"I'll be fine. No need to concern yourself with me." Cowboy rose with his gun pointed, taking off his hat and bowing it in apology towards the Pastor. "Sorry, for apprehending this man here, Father."

Gat sighed and stormed out before he heard another word of this goodie two-shoe - two-face - shite. He was met with another gun clicking beside his head as the hammer was cocked back. A quick glance from the corner of the eyes revealed a synth. The synth. The spy. Had to be, but he couldn't afford to blow his cover; it was something he would have to ask Adam when he reported on today's findings.

"Nice to see you again too, 'Nick'."

Nick didn't say anything back and guards looked the other way; it seemed this detective had a legitimate standing here. Cold metal limbs wrapped around Gat's elbow, but he ripped it away, glowering not to be touched. Nick jerked his head towards Piper's home. "Get in there, then. We have a lot to catch up on."

"Yeah, for sure, 'mate'. 'Cause I don't remember anythin' that'd warrant guns pointing at my head."

Nick smirked. "From what I've heard, you're used to it." What? When did he hear this, and from who? "Now get moving."

This hostility didn't bode well. Gat complied, but only so that he could find out if Piper was okay.

...What did it matter, anyways?

He was the reason she wouldn't be.

x - x - x

Sarah groaned as she marched back into the room, narrowing her eyes when Luki smiled as he patted the empty spot beside him on the bed. She didn't need to be told twice. "Wipe that off before I do it for you - like Leo," she huffed, looking around the room. "She left?"

"Yeah, said she was just going for a drink or two."

"We should be moving out-"

"And also said she'd like to try to get some rest tonight." Luki pushed up on his elbows and chuckled at what that answer did to her, and she crossed her arms. "Now before you keep making that look - we all need it. It's been a while since we've gotten anything decent, and it's starting to affect them. Her more than most."

"You, too," Sarah quietly noted, taking long strides before she dove over him and crashed on the bed; an immediate regret, when the frame buckled on the side, and she groaned all the way as she rolled right off the slope. His mirth corrupted her world, and though she should have rectified that, she found herself smiling and diving back with even more force - and on him. The bed's legs split and caved underneath, leveling the old thing. "There. Now we're even." She slithered up his side and propped herself up on an arm, looking down at him - at his injuries, and how most of his tattoos were swallowed by the healing burns. She worried her lip and pointed her chin to his ribs. "How are you... Dealing with that?"

"I'm feeling fine." There was a subtle lilt in his tone, and she narrowed her eyes at him in warning. He just smiled it all away. "When all this is over, we can go back to D.C. and I'll just get it redone." On scarred tissue? She didn't need to have his medical know-how to know that was a bad idea. "Looks pretty badass already though, don't you think? Do you like it?"

"Oh, sure, very badass. Can't be a real bona fide soldier without some grizzly scars that look as life-threatening as it was." Sarah rolled her eyes, drifting into the distance as the haunting memories burned at the forefront of her mind. She trailed a finger up and down his torso, whispering. "I don't like it. Don't ever do that ever again. Civilians just have to learn how to fend for themselves, like how you did."

"Sarah..." His soft tone cut deeper into her than any knife or bullet ever would, and she honestly had felt a twinge of guilt for her words. She pushed it aside.

"No. I almost lost you over a ghost chase," she mumbled; strength and authority rapidly whittled away from her voice. "And why didn't you brief me on Zimmer?"

"Well, it wasn't really relevant to the mission with Project Purity, or the war against the Enclave. The Institute in D.C. wasn't a threat like they are here." He wormed his good arm beneath her shoulders and brought her close, encouraging her to lay on his side. Ten years, and she still felt this weird little bloom in her chest whenever he did things like this. She rested her head on the junction of where his shoulder met his pec, drumming her fingers over his sternum as she hummed in acknowledgment.

"A fair point. I suppose I'll forgive you." She paused, smirking up at him. "For now." His tender chuckles did things to her that demanded retribution. She sat up and swung her leg over him, hovering safely over his thighs so as not to antagonize his burned hip. She was going to turn this gentle giant into a ravenous beast - and give Leo a taste of his medicine. She ran a finger down Luki's torso again, until it landed squarely between his hips, waiting until she felt something twitch to life beneath the confines of his cargos. A sinful glint burned bright in his emerald eyes; it always made her think of trees and life, just like the Oasis.

It was almost terrifying, how much larger than life he had become.

"Is this part two of earning your forgiveness, Commander?" Luki whispered huskily, broad hands stroking up the sides of her thighs. She answered by taking off her shirt and leaned to rest her hands on each side of his head, her holotags swinging between them. She giggled - only he was ever allowed to hear that sound from her and get to stay alive - when he sat up to catch them between his teeth. Her core flexed to keep her in the air as she reached for his hands to interlace their fingers together, guiding his arms up as she lowered to sit on the soldier at attention; but when his burned arm and ribs stretched, he grimaced and hissed.

"Shit, sorry," Sarah immediately let go and leaned back, but he held her hips down before she got off.

"Don't be. We finally get to stay together instead of apart, and I don't care what you do to me tonight. I'm at your command." He came up and hooked a hand under the curve of her jaw, kissing from her lips, down to the valley between her breasts. "What's your first order?" She buried her hands in his hair and her head lulled back, trying - and failing - to think of what she had wanted to do first. A ragged breath kicked against her lungs as old feelings and desires and seductive power resurfaced. It had been too long since they've finally gotten to kiss; nevermind this part.

And then the door opened.

Sarah was the first to dive off him, landing on her back on the bed as she simultaneously drew a concealed .32 from her hip. She nearly squeezed the trigger until she saw who the blushing face was, gawking at the door. Piper. "I-I'm so sorry," she blurted, tumbling and stammering like a broken record. "I didn't, I mean, oh my god, it is really hot in here... I forgot about the bottle... The bottle..."

Sarah's hands shook as she resisted the horrible urge of shooting this damn civilian's face off; especially when Piper seemed broken, repeating 'bottle' over and over again.

"What the hell did you even come in here for? What happened to drinking?!" Sarah barked, and glared at Luki when he started laughing. She punched his shoulder, but didn't lower her gun just to make Piper sweat in revenge. She deserved it. Sarah never got an answer though. The poor reporter hastily slammed the door shut as she escaped, cusses still heard beyond the walls in her own room.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Luki teased when Sarah flopped on the bed dejectedly, pistol forgotten. She narrowed her eyes at him and punched his shoulder again.

"Just for that, we've never having sex ever again."

"W-what? You're not serious, are you?" He panicked when she didn't answer. Good. Served him right. Let him sweat in revenge, too. "Sarah. Come on. Are you?"

Sarah smirked devilishly. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."