"I'd like to check in with the Palatkans, see if they know how Petey is doing. Then we should repair the van, and move on."
As Mickey and Marcus settle down at the bar and start chugging Nuka Colas , Fitz decides to head over to the Palatkan booth, while the rest of the party putzes around and looks at the various goods for sale in the market.
Digging through her pack, Aeryicka pulled out the wad of pre-war money and walked up to a nearby trader. "How much for this?" she asked politely.
Digging through her pack, Aeryicka pulled out the wad of pre-war money and walked up to a nearby trader. "How much for this?" she asked politely.
Badger just wanders through the stalls and tents, disconcerted by all the enforced cheer. He exchanges his 3 dollar bills for 30 caps and buys a cold nuka cola for the hell of it.
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Tom looks dispassionately at the ten lonley caps he'd get for his little piece of capitalism and history. "Nah, that's alright. I guess I'll just hold on to it."
He looks on the strong, bold face on the front, wondering what that man's life was like. What he went through, and how much of a bastard he must've been to do things so great that people wanted to put his face on a piece of money.
He tucks it back in breast pocket.
Quickly exchanging her cash for caps, Aeryicka pocketed the small metal bits before rejoining Tom. "You not want money?" she asked with her head cocked.
"Man, ain't had one of these in years," he tells Marcus with a happy grin. The two find a table and then Mickey raises his glass.
"To another day survived in the Wasteland. Cheers," he says before clinking his bottle with Marcus.
Eventually Mickey notices a ghoul giving him the stink-eye.
"I think one of us has a fan. A ghoul. Your three o'clock. Keep it subtle. We piss off anyone lately, you think?"
Spencer makes his way into the Island with the others, although he's quite short on caps himself, having put forward what he had left of his personal share to pay for the entry. After a bit of debate, he decides to stick with his old pal Tom, tagging along as he and Aeryicka make their way through the markets. While the others trade cash for caps, Spencer tries to ask around and see if he can't find any work for the group, specifically advertising them as skilled hunters, transporters, and guards.
Badger sputters at the cost of a Nuka Cola in this town.
"TWENTY CAPS?! I ain't spending that much on anything that won't get me buzzed, layed or armed! I admire the protection scam, y'all, but this is just gouging."
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"C'mon! Badgy, what's life without a luxury thing or two once in a while... I'll treat you to it. And you too, Mickey. Gotta pay you back for keeping me alive Hahahahah!" says Marcus, as he finishes his third Nuka. When Mickey mentions the ghoul he eyes him as subtly as he can... which is not subtly at all. The Knight even rises his Nuka to the ghoul and smiles "Well, we kill lotsa things... but I doubt we angered him. Wait, Mickey. Could he... could he be one o' those you "spaced" when you were a Vault Cop? Man, I wish not cus that f~~*in face claims for vengeance."
"I appreciate it, man, but it wasn't more than a couple of days ago we were eating radroach meat in a gym full of dead people. Seemed then like living cheap was the way to go... but I guess you guys hit the jackpot out here."
He tips up the soda.
"Cheers."
"Well, we kill lotsa things... but I doubt we angered him. Wait, Mickey. Could he... could he be one o' those you "spaced" when you were a Vault Cop? Man, I wish not cus that f$#*in face claims for vengeance."
Mickey frowned. "A Vaultee? Well, I mean, I guess it's possible. How long does it take someone to turn into a ghoul, anyway? Look, just leave him alone. No need to be startin' trouble. Ain't no crime in looking hard."
"Let's just enjoy our drinks."
Spencer doesn't find much in the line of work outside of caravan escorts, but he does find there's a member of the Followers looking for cazador eggs to analyze the creatures at birth and find a cheaper, more potent means to provide antivenom for them. He's willing to offer five times their value to any found, and can actually point you in the direction of a nest outside of the town. He will offer coordinates to input on either of the PipBoys, and points out that if you manage to get ten, he will throw in an old PipBoy that he recently got off a man he was unable to save.
The ghoul, upon hearing the name "Mickey", stands up, and starts to hobble over to Mickey and Marcus, and a sly smile comes across his grotesque features. "Mickey? I heard there was a famous Mickey in this town, but as I live and breathe - and oh, yes, do I live and breathe, contrary to all your best efforts, Mickey...I can't believe it's you." He chuckles lightly, his hoarse voice sounding like gravel rubbing together when he laughs. He raises a pair of hands when Mickey reaches for a weapon and laughs again. "Ah, ah, ah, Mickey. Do be careful, or Goofy and his friends will show up, and their violence isn't mere slapstick, you know."
His voice loses all mirth and he narrows his eyes, and smirks. "Who'd have thought it, eh? That the guards are now here to protect me instead of protect people from me, because nobody in this town knows you from Adam, and you'd just be assaultin' an innocent ghoul, which looks right-off like racism, it does, from where those guards and those securitrons are standing."
He starts to limp closer, leans forward, and whispers in Mickey's ear.
He leans back and shrugs. "I'm just an old man, a lost soul, a little crazy, but I pay my ticket fees, and I don't cause any trouble...not here, at least, and nobody cares what happens to strangers in the wasteland. Not even if it's...hmm, fifteen more people since you didn't make sure I was dead, Mickey. How does that weigh on your conscience? How does that feel?"
The bartender, casually cleaning a glass, raises an eyebrow at the exchange, and leans over, whispering to his barback, who quietly leaves the area...and starts to jog towards a securitron.
Spencer doesn't find much in the line of work outside of caravan escorts, but he does find there's a member of the Followers looking for cazador eggs to analyze the creatures at birth and find a cheaper, more potent means to provide antivenom for them. He's willing to offer five times their value to any found, and can actually point you in the direction of a nest outside of the town. He will offer coordinates to input on either of the PipBoys, and points out that if you manage to get ten, he will throw in an old PipBoy that he recently got off a man he was unable to save.
Spencer shakes the man's hand with a grin and nods. "You've got yourself a deal, mister, uh, Follower. I'll have one of my friends come over with the Pip to put in the coordinates, and we'll have your eggs, no problem. By the by, what's a cazador? I guess they're poisonous."
Spencer doesn't find much in the line of work outside of caravan escorts, but he does find there's a member of the Followers looking for cazador eggs to analyze the creatures at birth and find a cheaper, more potent means to provide antivenom for them. He's willing to offer five times their value to any found, and can actually point you in the direction of a nest outside of the town. He will offer coordinates to input on either of the PipBoys, and points out that if you manage to get ten, he will throw in an old PipBoy that he recently got off a man he was unable to save.Spencer shakes the man's hand with a grin and nods. "You've got yourself a deal, mister, uh, Follower. I'll have one of my friends come over with the Pip to put in the coordinates, and we'll have your eggs, no problem. By the by, what's a cazador? I guess they're poisonous."
The doctor nearly chokes on his own spittle when Spencer asks what a cazador is, and shakes his head. "You...uh...might wanna ask around a bit before going to the nest. They're...okay, you know what a pre-war wasp looked like?"
The Follower explains exactly what a cazador is, in all of it's horror, and how if you see one, there's probably at least five, if not ten.
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Marcus overhears everything but what the ghouls whispered and with an ample smile taps him in the shoulder "You righty, pizzaface. Kingdom's security is harsh and brutal, and that's why I haven't ripped you in half already. But what could they do if, say, a Brotherhood Senior Knight who recently helped save Dome from deathclaws punched you until you are almost dead, then bribed the bartender to assure the guards you assaulted us while drunk? I betcha they wouldn't do s#$& to stop me."
The knight stands, close enough to the ghouls as to impede any possible try to escape and asks Mickey "What's goin' on with this sicko, M?"
The ghoul shrugs, and scratches his chin. "You know, sir, that's a good question, what could I d----- HELP ME! THIS MAN IS THREATENING TO ASSAULT ME! HE JUST CALLED ME A PIZZA FACE AND SAID HE'S GOING TO BEAT ME HALF TO DEATH!!! HEEEEEEELP!!!"
Other people in the bar start to stand up and look over at the commotion, and of course, by now a couple of securitrons roll into the tent, accompanied by a guard.
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As the ghouls starts his charade Marcus quickly says the other two as subtly as possible "Leg it. Now. I'll deal with the guards, but I need you to solve this bastard without getting yourselves killed."
He turns to frown upon the ghoul, and as the guards and securitrons arrive he drops to his knees and raises his arms in a completely non-threathening manner.
"I am Senior Knight Marcus Edwards from the Brotherhood and I am not resisting! No need to brutalize a brother!"
Badger slips out the door with his coke and finds an unobtrusive place to observe the building.
EH-RK, being a hater of communists and follower of Senior Knight Marcus Edwards, finds a way to cause trouble.
Query:Senior Knight Marcus Edwards, might I eviscerate this communist for you? Statement: It would be my pleasure.
Fitz meets up with a few ghouls and asks around about Petey and the woman taking care of her, and learns that Petey has grown to be very popular in Palatka. He is learning math fast and keeps insisting that he run the register, albeit under supervision, and the ghoul woman is extremely doting over him, nearly to the point of spoiling. The town is prospering well due to the rebuilding of the factory, and there hasn't been an ant attack since the group left. A few people comment on Fitz's new arm, clearly impressed with his tenacity, and they mention that Rufus rolled through town to buy supplies, and a boat, and said he was "goin' south" to "look for a vault for some friends to kick the s@~* out of them for kickin' them crazy bastards out."
Fitz smiles.
"Glad to hear he's settling in. And that Rufus is still alive. He ran off so suddenly I wasn't sure what he was going to do..."
"Nobody's come for Petey, have they? I know the Super Mutants were looking to take him back at one point."
Badger slips out the door with his coke and finds an unobtrusive place to observe the building.
[dice=Stealth]1d10;1d6
[dice=Ace]1d6
Request for Clarification: My audio sensors detected you ordering me to not eviscerate nobody. Reasonable Conclusion: I may indeed splatter this Communist scum all over the walls. EHRK advances on the Ghoul
Not really needing to purchase anything, nor the funds, Aeryicka started looking around for the rest of their group. "Where bar others go to?" she asked Spencer, figuring that he knew where places were.
Resigned Sigh: You are safe Communist scum. For now. EH regards the Ghoul with a single unblinking red "eye"
Spencer raises his eyebrows and nods a few times as the doctor tells him a bit about cazadors and just why they're so fearsome. "Damn. We killed a deathclaw and its brood but, uh. I'll admit they don't sound fun."
Spencer parts from the doc and catches up with Aeryicka. At her question, he looks around the nearby stalls. "Can't say I know myself..."
"...except that's gotta be them," he finishes with a frown. The voices coming from the bar tent down the way sound a lot like Papa and the robot, and sure enough there goes Badger out the back. Spencer heads over to grab the other Vault dweller and nods at the tent. "What's going on? More trouble?"
Mickey saw red as the raspy, gravelly voice finally caught up with him. He was blank for a moment, and then his mind ran a mile a minute.
Cold Nuka-cola bottle in hands. Smash glass on table. Shove broken bottle into Hogan's neck. Twist. Security will shoot me to death.
Worth it.
His eyes then cut around to his crew. No. Not worth it. Not now. Not here.
But soon.
"It's alright, boys. Just a misunderstanding and some professional rivalry. Nothing to get worked up over," he said to everyone in the Nuka-cola bar, and to the Protectrons in particular. "We'll just pay our bill and be on our way."
He then added quietly. "Good to see you, Hogan. Been a while. Your ex-wife got remarried to your friend, Roy. They seemed happy. Just figured you'd want to know."
Mickey squeezed the bottle in his hands. "We should catch up later."
The securitrons look at Hogan, at Marcus down on the floor surrendering, and at Mickey and stop for a moment. Hogan backs up and shakes his head. "I don't know about my old friend Mickey, but this man here definitely threatened me!"
A few of the people in the bar nod slowly. It was, strictly speaking, pretty true, but nobody really felt like jumping in to testify just yet. The ghoul was obviously antagonizing Mickey when Marcus spoke up. "I'd feel a whole lot safer if I had an escort out of town, sirs. This Senior Knight is a bully, just like the rest of those Brotherhood types."
The guard scratches his chin, and the two securitrons pop up a face of a cartoon goofy, which begins to speak. "Nothing to fear here, citizens. Gowrsh, sir, we're going to ask you to step out of, and leave your power armor with your equipment at the ferry...now, and in any business you may have here in the Island or Kingdom itself in the near future. Hate to be rude, but any weapons you and your crew may be carrying will have to be checked from now on. We think that's a fair precaution. You don't have anything to worry about for your safety here in the Island, the same as everyone else, who can now turn and return to their business. A-hyuck!"
The small gathering of witnesses begins to disperse, and the human guard approaches Marcus. "You can stand up, big guy, but you heard the boss man. Weapons, power armor, the whole shebang...we'll drop it off with your vehicle."
One of the securitrons moves up to Hogan, who looks back at Mickey. "Oh, we will catch up. I'll catch you...up...don't worry." He limps off, escorted by the securitron, until out of Mickey's view.
The PipBoys both, all of a sudden, pop up a faction display under Kingdom - SHUNNED.
Meanwhile Fitz learns that they haven't seen anyone come looking for him, so far, but with the handful of mutants in town, he seems to blend in rather easily.
He does, however, hear that some men in power armor came by about a week ago, asking who was driving the van with their city's name on it. The Sheriff told them that it was stolen by some ruffians who were headed north, to Jacksonville. "He figured that should keep them busy for a while."
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Statement: Senior Knight Marcus, you have been vanquished by these Communist sympathizing...tincans! EHRK growls
Emotional Reminiscence: I remember a time when such a thing were nigh impossible. A time when the Good people of the United States of America did not accept such base defeat at the hands of Pinko Commie scum.
Statement: Once, the blood of our enemies ran freely over my circuits, my purpose was fulfilled and all was right in the world. Woeful Realization: I am being wasted. My talents are being disused.
Stunning Conclusion: EH-RK is ready to serve Senior Knight Marcus, and the USA. I exist to destroy Communists, even if I did not enjoy killing them I would have no choice. Thankfully, I enjoy killing them.
Spencer shakes his head as he listens in to the end of the events in the Nuka-bar, and he approaches Mickey as soon as the group comes out. "What was that all about?" Presumably, Mickey informs him, and Spencer frowns. "Jeez. Of all the folks we dumped that have to turn up alive..."
He takes off his helmet and runs his hands through his hair, combing out a little of the dust that's settled in. "I met her around when I was maybe fifteen, sixteen? We started off just a couple kids who saw each other, said hi in the cafeteria or when we ran into each other in side rooms, studying or something. Guess it was fifteen, since I remember talking about the G.O.A.T. with her. Wasn't until I was already an appointed escort that I really noticed her and got to know her, though. I was over Jenny by that point, and after my first time out on a drop... well, I needed someone to talk to about it. My head was all sorts of messed up, and Clarissa was the only one I knew who'd listen and be able to understand. So we met and talked, and stayed up all day and night, and... well, I guess you know where that led."
For a brief moment, a nostalgic smile ghosts its way onto Spencer's face, and he runs his fingers absently over one another. Then his smile dies again. "But I guess the Lottery happens to everybody. I was gearing up for the drop a couple years later, and ready to propose to her when we got back. I was even figuring to try and find some flowers or a souvenir or something, sneak it back in. Or even just a sketch of an animal or something. I'd seen a couple before. But that morning, when I woke up and went down to the truck..." He trails off, and draws a long breath before continuing. "When we dropped them off, she just patted my cheek and said it was alright. I swore I'd try and find her again, if I ever got the chance. She said she'd try and find me, too."
There's a long pause, probably only interrupted when somebody asks or says something. "I did find her, the next time out. I saw her near the edge of the city, as we were driving. Knew it was her from the patch I helped put in her suit, and the hat I gave her when she left. Looked like she'd been trying to make her way back into the city, try and find the Vault again. Probably the radiation got her. She was sitting against a building, looked like she'd passed out there, and just never woken up. I always hoped there wasn't any pain to it. Now I know different."
He gives one more wistful smile. "One good thing, though. There were flowers growing out of her skeleton. Never got to pick any, though. Maybe I'll find that spot again someday."
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Marcus stands and exits the power armor. He then proceeds yo pick the backpack and starts sorting through his "armory".
Slamming them in the bar he puts a plasma rifle, a laser pistol, his chainsword, a bowie knife and two cell cluster grenades, all the while staring at Hogan with a dead-serious face.
The Knight turns to the guard and asks "Do you need the ammo too or we are good already? But do know this, homie, that man is a murderer and he will keep killing... until I catch him on the waste. I don't want no trouble in your city, though, you got my Knight's word." having said that, Marcus says Hogan "I never fo'get a face, dead man walking. Not even if it's fallin' apart. You too got my word, we'll catch you. You won't like it, but I f+%+ing will."
Once the commotion is over, Marcus sits again at the bar and sighs. The big man is clearly saddened byt the turn of events.
"F*!%ing human nature. We been killin' each others since time is time. You could think havin' almost achieved it would have changed things. But no, here we are... surviving instead of livin' and you still find people that bring the worst we have to offer." the knight goes for a cigarette, but then remembers the "no drugs" policy of Kingdom.
With a smile he simply asks for another Nuka-Cola.
"I wish more Brothers would stand up against this stuff. If enough o' them would follow me, we could make the Waste a better place to live. No murderers, no raiders, no slavers. A safer place for those tough mofos that manage to endure this hellish country." continues Papa as he chugs down the soft drink and turns to the group "And more people like you. Heh. A man can only wish, am I right?"
Aeryicka watched the proceedings with wide eyes, unsure what was happening. 'Why they fight here?' she thought to herself before slowly making her way into the bar. Climbing up to sit down on the stool next to Big Papa, she ordered a Nuka Cola and looked at him inquisitively. "Why Brotherhood not help others?"
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Fitz rejoins the group not long after the commotion dies down, and listens for a while before speaking.
"The Brotherhood doesn't help because there's only so much such a small group can do on their own. Much of the Waste seems content on eking out whatever meager existence they can instead of trying to better the world around them. The Brotherhood and similar groups can only do so much to help those who won't help themselves."
Fitz sighs.
"We've seen it all over since we left the Vault. Wonderful people to be found everywhere, but communities are tight-knit and shut off from each other. Without any sort of unified community, people make their own laws. Ghouls and Super Mutants are shunned almost everywhere, so they form a community in Palatka. There is nobody to tell them no, so Dome is a hub of barbarism and slavery. Even here, where everyone is relatively happy, things are shut off. Locked behind walls, petty notions of monetary gain winning out over the benefit of the Wastes as a whole. The Brotherhood fall prey to this too, becoming shut off and bigoted in the face of a selfish world."
"I'd hoped for us to make a difference somehow. Join the Brotherhood, perhaps. Start up a community in that new Vault we'd heard about. But I was thinking too small, treating the symptoms rather than the disease. The only way a difference COULD be made is if we somehow unified the Waste, perhaps even the entire country. Then we could work on cleaning up the mess our ancestors left us."
"That's quite a tall order for us now, but I feel like we've made an impression already in a small way. I hope we can turn that into something bigger, in the future."
Unless he's caught with the rest of the group and forced to disarm by security, Badger will attempt to tail Hogan and his escorts- he keeps a palm full of caps in hand, in case he's caught.
Mickey tells the crew. "Let's find a room for the night. I'll tell you everything there."
Mickey fills in everyone on just who Hogan is. A well known, and popular techie from the vault who started killing folks.
"He got away with it for a very long time because he was smart enough to make it look like accidents. And he targeted the elderly mostly. Or folks who were lonely and kept to themselves. And frankly we just didn't investigate too hard, because we were relieved. Some woman living alone in her 70's? I mean, yeah, it's a shame. But that's one less person getting sent to the Wasteland this year. One less family torn apart."
"My - my wife, she noticed it. Because she was a tech herself. She knew that equipment was well maintained and had no reason to fail. She figured it was sabotage. She pointed it out to me. And I didn't do anything."
"But Hogan figured it out. He was her boss. He targeted my wife. A burst steam pipe. It - it took her hours to die. And med-x could only do so much."
A painful sob escaped the big man, and his hands shook.
"She was in so much pain! And I couldn't do a damned thing!"
Mickey took a few seconds to calm himself, breathing calmly through his nose.
"And so we did what we did. I should have just put a bullet in his brain. Ended it there. But I wanted him to suffer. And now he's killed more. He admitted it. And that's on me. They're dead because of me."
Unless he's caught with the rest of the group and forced to disarm by security, Badger will attempt to tail Hogan and his escorts- he keeps a palm full of caps in hand, in case he's caught.
The guards end up escorting Hogan to the monorail, which he hops into a car of before it takes off to the west end of the lake, outside of the Island and Kingdom.
Just as Hogan gets onboard, Badger feels eyes on him, and looks around to see Chip and Dale staring at him, shishkebab and minigun drawn and aimed at his back. Chip is the first to speak up. "We don't take kindly to people stalking men who just claimed to be threatened by someone you showed up with." Dale shakes his head and taps the side of his Mickey Ear helmet. "The ears are always listening."
Chip walks forward and points a sword. "I'm gonna pat you down. We aren't gonna have trouble, are we? I don't want trouble."
Dale hefts the minigun. "I do."
Chip shakes his head. "Nah, Dale, ite a misunderstanding. Right, sir?"
"Heard about deaths," Aeryicka said, gently stroking Cray's feathers. "Not know they were murders. That why I like animals. Always reason for deaths. Food, territory. Very few animals kill for sport other than humans. Many species family animals, take care of young and old. All help each other. Wish world like that."
Badger tries to look as innocent as possible.
"I know how this looks, guys, but honestly-", he holds his handful of caps open.
"- I thought this guy just dropped his caps. But, you know, I can't blame y'all for feeling like this is threatening behavior."
Clearly not fooling anyone and having plenty of experience with security, Badger shrugs.
"Sure, man. Pat me down. Probably the only action I'm getting in this little theme park of yours, anyhow."
Chip's eyes narrow at the concealed switchblade, the lie, the set-up situation. He genuinely is, and tries to be, a nice guy, but given the situation...
"Sir, I'm going to have to place you under arrest. Don't resist."
With one hand, he reaches back for a set of handcuffs, and he starts talking to the air, clearly his mouse-ear communicators, the other hand flicks the switch for one of his shishkebabs to turn on, just in case. "We got a troublemaker in the Elsa section, repeat, troublemaker. So far he's not resisting arrest, but I'd like some backup, just in case."
Provided Badger doesn't resist, he cuffs him. "May whatever you believe in help you with Chief Magister Donald."
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Badger give him a look that says Backup? Really? and holds out his wrists to be cuffed.
"C'mon, man. Your partner has a minigun. I'm pretty sure I can't do s!+~, here."
As he's lead away he says: "My attorney's name is Thomas Roland- that's R-O-L-A-N-D. He wears a suit, so you know- he's pretty official."
"The backup isn't for you, son," Chip remarks, "We have to go round your friends up as witnesses, and they have a f*+~ing big ass robot with them, a guy in power armor, and I could've sworn the guy with the glasses had a deathclaw on his hand. Now your human friends seem calm, but that robot seems to have a trigger finger on him."
Chip cuffs up Badger, and shortly after the Securitrons show up to leave with them towards the tents where the rest of the party is staying...meanwhile you hear Dale radioing to stop and turn around the monorail to bring Jobs in as a witness.
"What?! You already punished them and took his power armor away! Fine, fine. Whatever you have to do to pad your numbers for the month, don't want f!*~in' Jimmy Cricket or whoever thinking you're slackin'. You ever feel silly in those mouse ears? How much do they weigh, like, you ever hurt your neck wearing those every day?"
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"I can't do that, Darcia."
"Oh come on Thomas. I...I owe him. And if I can't repay him I...I don't know what I'll do.
"And how is that my fault? Or my problem? -You- made your choice. You chose Mark! Let him deal with it."
"But he doesn't work in the mortuary! And you do! You...you practically own it, down here. He just...he just needs a way to hide some bodies. Make them disappear. You know how to do that."
"Well, yeah, okay, I guess I do, but...no, Darcia, no. I don't think it's worth the risk."
She bit her bottom lip. Tom knew the art of the deal. Someone wanted something, so you gave it to them.
"I...my, my answer, is...is yes," she said, voice deep with need and surrender.
This was interesting to him. And he learned that you NEVER give someone a chance to back down. "Alright. Okay, then, yeah, I'll get rid of your bodies."
"Great! I'll go let Hogan know."
***************
Tom had spent some extra time wandering the market. The lack of the money transaction spoiled him on spending, and he had no interest in more colas. He was still in a post-bliss high and didn't really want to practice his art of the tongue on another random bar.
In time wanders back to the group. Just as he's about to ask where Badger went the call comes out that they're needed...as witnesses.
"And here I thought this would be boring," he says, brushing the dust off his suit and straightening his hat.
EH spends some time walking around and doing the same odd things he does whenever he goes anywhere
Statement: Stand still citizen, I am scanning your face to match against known Communist Sympathizers. Thirty Seven percent, Sixty three percent, Ninety Four percent
Statement: Move along citizen, thank you for your cooperation.
When he is summoned as a witness EHRK emits
Confusion: Witness, the Human Bloom is not a Communist. as if only the Commies could potentially be criminals.
Dale "accidentally" clubs the living s+@& out of Badger on the back of his head with his minigun when his mouth decides to run away with him of it's own accord.
= 26
"Oops. Looks like you tripped and fell backwards onto a log. Careful, there. You need to watch your step when you're talking so much."
"What the hell, Dale?!"
Dale shrugs, as if to say they're always listening, not always watching
"Slippery slope, that."
It's not only Badger who's being put on trial - eventually, a group of Securitrons escorted by four guards show up to the tents to gather Mickey, Marcus, and EH-RK; apparently, when Hogan found out the news that Badger was tailing him with a weapon hidden on his person, he accused the four of them of "conspiracy to commit assassination."
Considering the threats that EH-RK and Marcus gave him earlier and the fact that there were witnesses in the bar, some of them guards who saw EH-RK pointedly threaten to eviscerate Jobs in front of them, the guards do not take the subject lightly. The kindly, but with hunting shotguns in hand, ask the three others to follow them.
You are all actually lead into Kingdom proper, and sure enough, it really does look like a vault, below ground an entire city, but much more spacious than the vaults, and with securitrons rolling around everywhere with motionless pictures of Goofy on their screens. You see well-dressed men and women in pre-war garb who stop to look at you. Eventually the four accused are taken to a small jail cell, big enough only to hold about ten people, with a huge screen on one side of it.
Badger's (probably unconscious) body is thrown into the cell after the others are politely escorted. Chip shakes his head and pulls out a stimpak and jams it into Badger, whispering "You really need to be careful what you say. Donald is a good...person...but he doesn't abide any sass."
Momentarily later the others are escorted down as counsel and witnesses, and Hogan hobbles down with a lawyer who has a suit that makes Tom look like a pauper. Chairs are set up outside of the cell. The entire situation isn't a courtroom so much as a holding cell with an audience chamber.
Chip is there with the guards who witnessed EH-RK's threat, and a few of the people from the bar who watched the hostility between Hogan, Mickey, and Marcus.
The huge screen on the wall lights up, and you're greeted with a frozen image of Donald Duck on screen wearing judge's robes and in a powdered white wig.
One of the guards yells, "All rise for the Honorable Head Magistrate and Decider of Fates, The Great, The Powerful, Certainly if You Think About It More Powerful Than Mickey, But He Feels Like Being Nice And Letting Mickey Be In Charge, Judge Donald!
Immediately you see all of the guards rise to their feet from the seats, and even Hogan manages to stand to full attention with his lawyer helping him.