"Son, I don't know who you think you're dealing with, but we're Steel Paladins, and if I don't see that door open with hands up and no guns in them in one minute, I'm gonna give my buddy J here permission to blow the living s*** out of that entrance and I'm gonna restart the Great War in the middle of a f***ing hurricane! We haven't found diddly nor squat in this place yet, and I'm pretty sure we can make the hike back to Kennedy before the storm gets bad enough where we have to worry, so you think wisely in the next...oh, look...forty two seconds..."
Kris nods to Badger and puts away the piece. He hands the grenade back to Timmy.
I ain't standing in no f#+@ing corner. he says to Badger
"You take that up with them, Grognak.", Badger says before putting his arms up.
"Okay, okay. Let's all be cool. Opening the door in 3, 2, 1...", he says before pushing the door open with his shoulder, hands still open and empty.
As promised, you see a couple of men in power armor aiming a plasma rifle and a rocket launcher at the door, and when they see Badger unarmed, the one with the laser rifle waves you in. "A'right. You can come in. Don't start a fire, but there's a lantern somewhere among this wreckage you can light up. So, who's the bad ass that thinks he can talk s*** to paladins?"
They're both wearing helmets, and seem indistinguishable from one another visually, aside from the fact that the one with the plasma rifle seems to be in charge.
That's me chrome dome. Kristophe says as he steps into the room with his hands raised You're all badass behind that fancy armor. Step on out and we can settle this gentlemanly like, but hurry up, storms coming Kris sneers
"You're right, I am badass in my power armor, with my plasma rifle...are you suggesting we settle this fist to fist, big guy? Because you don't wanna see my fist. I left it in my pack, but I can introduce you to it, right quick, if you want. Hydraulic powered and everything. Get yer ass in the corner, big mouth. I ain't normally one to shoot an unarmed man, but I'll knock the s*** out of you with my power fist if you keep that mouth runnin' until there aren't as many teeth in it. Honest to goodness, where did you find this idiot, he seems like he went walking around Miami without a rad suit, his brain is so obviously fried."
As you all enter, he tilts his head.
"You folks have a Mister Handy, I see. Interesting...where'd you pick that up?"
"Mac, you sure you don't want me to just blow his leg up or something?"
"Damnit, James, we don't have time to clean that mess up, and his friend seems compliant, and I'd rather not hit innocent wastelanders if we can help it. Don't need the Hood getting a bad rep among the locals."
"Well, I mean...who's gonna know?"
"I will, James. I enjoy being able to sleep at night."
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Thomas, grinning to himself the entire time and barely stifling insanity-level laughter, simply leads Jimmy and Warhammer in. G'day, gents. Lovely day isn't it? Oh, you didn't hear it, but before he was going on and on how all Paladins are gay. Ya, totally. He said the only easy opening in the armor suit was in the rear for, and I quote "y'know...reasons. In-the-butt reasons." Just thought you should know.
Ah, we actually came across my good robot friend in the closet of a school. Can you believe it? He's been a valuable companion ever since. Makes a damn fine slab of lizard."
Still smiling, Tom heads in, looking to light as many sources of fire as he can so everyone can be warm.
The one identified earlier as Mac suddenly busts out laughing his ass off.
The one with the missile launcher, James, seems not to think this is funny.
"That s*** ain't funny, Mac."
"Yeah it is, James, don't give me that s***."
"I oughtta turn this launcher on you, Mac."
"Yeah, but then my brother ain't gonna be happy with you, and you'll have wasted those armor openings for nothing."
"F*** you, Mac."
"No, no, J...that would be my brother."
You hear some severely pissed off grumbling coming from the armor of the guy with the missile launcher.
Mac does most of the talking as James now seems to be waiving the launcher back and forth between Kris and Tom, for...reasons... Mac seems to have a much less aggressive stance now.
"A school, huh? Must be a basic janitorial model, or a cook or something, maybe multipurpose. You looking to sell it? The Hood will probably drop about ten-kay or so caps on one of those models if it's got the plug-ins for a standard Gutsy upgrade."
Kris keeps his mouth shut, for now. But he doesn't immediately move to the corner...he's waiting.
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Tom pauses, still smiling. 'Is this how Kris feels when he jerks people around? Boy does this feel good. Made one laugh and another almost cry. Huh.'
Tom starts chatting amiably, ignoring the missile launcher occasionally pointing toward him. "Nah, he's been too fine an addition to the team. Y'know one of the biggest points of logistics in the field with a small squad is night watches? Well, we don't even have to worry about that with a robot around. Makes for much longer days without multiple watches. And I need something to hide behind when people start shooting at me, heh.
But, we're kinda new here. What's this 'Hood' that I hear so much about? Is that a place or a person or a group? They got a lot of robots? Oh, is that your chapter? Does the BoS have a strong presence here?"
Tom doesn't really know what a 'steel paladin' is, so he's just mouthing their own words back at them, seeing if they'll let out more information if they think he already knows something. He sees BoS emblazoned on their shoulders, so he's taking a swing on what the hell that is.
"He's a dick but if you could not maim him that would help us out, man. Sir. However you want me to call you.", Badger says.
"So you guys are from around here? How'd you get all that armor and gear? You grow up in a Vault or out here on the surface? Overheard you a little outside- you're looking for a book or two? Anything we can help out on? Doesn't look like we're going anywhere for a while."
"Goddamnit, James, put the thing down, they're just vaultie vomits, clueless as hell and don't even know about the hood for nothin' S*** you idiots had me thinkin' you were raiders or slavers or something. Bit mouth over there is just a swagger man, like the Head Paladin, J. I'm Macmillian, my friend here...or should I say future brother in law you bastard...this is James. You guys get puked up from down south, Vault 2? You know a girlie named Maria? Maria Espinosa? Short, dark hair, liked to sing a lot, had a pair of cannons on her made you wonder how she didn't fall over from sheer weight when she bent to tie her shoes?"
Luck:
Badger runs a hand through his flopped over mohawk, a little smile on his face. Those cans, man.
"Yeah.. yeah I knew Maria. We weren't close exactly, but we got along."
Kris keeps his mouth shut, but thinks loud thoughts of sweet sweet vengeance.
"Yeah, yeah, she was a teacher down there. Got booted out about six years ago. Oh, dang man, I just ran into a group of you folks, what...a week ago? Two weeks? Good guys, ran some work for my boy Jameson, earned them a pretty good chunk of cash."
He pops his helmet off and smiles. He's a pale guy of obviously Scottish descent, and seems pretty amiable now that nobody's yelling at him.
As the others went into the building, Aeryicka whistled sharply. Cray, deciding that the storm was better spent inside, alighted on her spear as she walked into the building. The sight of the men wearing power armor momentarily threw her for a loop, but after the hostilities died, and Maria was brought up, Aeryicka nodded and spoke for the first time. "Had class with her before she left," she said, sitting down against the was and stroking Cray's back.
Cray, meanwhile, kept his gaze on the two Paladins. He would not let them hurt the human he deigned to follow.
"Glad to hear those guys are staying afloat; doesn't hurt to have someone out there that won't shoot us on sight."
Badger takes a seat against a wall.
"We were headed for a hospital that Tom's robot told us was about fourteen miles from here. You wouldn't know anything about the place would you? If it's full of raiders or mutants or zombies or whatever it's good to know ahead of time, right?"
"Yeah, last I heard they were heading to Gainesville. Said they found a lead on another Vault out that direction they were gonna check out. That was about a week ago. I also told them about a job the 'Hood needs outsiders for in Tampa, and they seemed kinda interested in that, too, if only 'cause they're roundabouts the same area."
He shrugs and finds an old bench and takes a seat.
"Hey big guy, sorry about all that 'I'll make you into a pile of green goo' mess. We didn't have heads nor tails of who you folks were out there, and when there's just two of us, even packing as much heat as this, you can never be too careful. How 'bout a bottle of whiskey for your trouble?"
Mac smiles amiably, and pulls off his pack, digs out a bottle, and tosses it to Kristophe.
"Got a soft spot for Vaulties. Maria was my wife. We met a little after she got exiled. It's a long story..."
James interrupts, "THAT YOU TELL ALL THE GODDAMN TIME!"
Mac makes a face. "Fine, fine. Anyway, I try to help you guys out when I see you, just 'cause I don't want anyone else to go through the mess she went through. Sort of in her memory. Anyway, yeah, there's an old hospital not too far from here, we can walk you there after this storm. It's on the way back to Kennedy. The Hood never really took it apart since we've got enough chem manufacturing in house, and hospitals aren't exactly known for weapons, so you might find something in there if the wastelanders haven't torn it apart yet."
Kris brightens at the bottle of Whiskey and expresses his thanks in the most manly and testosterone laced way possible, a grunt.
Kris keeps silent, but he's pretty sure he's one of the guys that ditched Maria and that is where he knows her from.
Kris contents himself with a long pull of whiskey and then he grabs something to eat from his pack.
As Kris munches on some exceptionally old Junk Food
He asks So, what the hell are you people?
James speaks up this time. "We're paladins with the Brotherhood of Steel. The BoS is - well, we kinda roam the land looking for tech and weapons, try to keep the world from ending again by keeping idiots with a trigger finger..."
"...you mean like us?" Mac interjects.
James finishes. "...that want to destroy everything, by keeping it in our lockups. We actually have a base nearby here and will pay caps to anyone bringing by tech, which is why Mac asked about your Handy. Nobody matches our prices. We sell lower quality tech that we've deemed not a cause for worry, too."
Mac interjects again. "Before you ask, we don't take outsiders for members. I don't know why. They wouldn't even let Maria in after we got married. Had to put in a special petition for our kids after she died. It's stupid. We've had like...maybe five outsiders ever join from the outside, but those guys, you know, helped other branches win major wars against the Enclave."
James shrugs. "We were here just searching the library for anything we could find on weaponry. Our SP - Senior Paladin - went chasing after some mutants he saw in the region and left us to see to things here. Figured three men would be enough to take out a group of five muties."
"Yep, and me being a former SP, demoted for reasons we don't need to get into right now, I'm in command in his absence. They should've been back by now, but...well the storm might be slowing them down. Also, the mutants have been a bit more aggressive of late. J forgot to mention - we also kill the s*** out of muties and ghouls, because reasons. I met a few ghouls and muties that ain't bad, but not my call. The higher ups don't like 'em. Kill on sight."
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Thomas takes a seat and starts chatting as if reunited with old friends. He begins Flatter and Inquire sequence #3.
"Yeah, Maria, she was nice to everyone. Good on you for landing that. Can I ask how she died?
So, is this area Safe? I mean, is all of this your zone, or are you on a wide-ranging patrol?
Also, how long until you get worried about your SP? I mean, you say you've got chems in-house, so obviously if you're handing out favor and medicine, we would volunteer to help. Sure, you're loaded down like a small-scale battleship, but if their quarry smoked a group of three, you're at least gonna need more eyes."
= 14
Mac seems to pointedly avoid Tom's question about Maria's death, making a sour face at that, and James, when Mac isn't looking, shakes his head and pulls his hand across his neck, giving the universal sign of "cut it off".
"Visualization is going to be next to nil as long as the storm is brewing. Plan was to follow their signal beacon in their armor come morning, radio in to base for our coordinates and hopefully they'll get some assistance out here within 24 hours - but a lot can happen by then. Tell you what, if he's not back by the time this foolishness blows over, yeah, you wanna come along and hunt them down, that'd be appreciated. I can probably put a sponsorship in for you as Class C merchants, maybe even Class B if things get nasty. Official registered merchant caravans can buy from our surplus equipment, with higher grades having better access, and merchants get a free meal and a free night stay at the tent outside Kennedy when they drop off trade goods, which is guarded by paladins 24/7; there's a one-night limit to how long you can stay, as we're pointedly trying NOT to start a village outside of our base because that would be way too much work for us to patrol and keep safe, but every little bit of respite helps when you're in the waste."
James shakes his head "Mac, I don't know. We don't know these guys from anyone."
"J, they're vaultie vomit from Maria's vault. That's good enough for me. Those last guys were top notch good folk, and I trusted them."
"You trust too much, Mac."
"It's not like I'm handing them a spare gauss rifle and a suit of T51, J. They're already armed and armored, and sporting a Handy. They can take care of themselves. Big guy talked s*** like he was gonna take on a vertibird with a BB gun; dude probably swings that paddle on his back like a pro, right big guy? How you enjoyin' that whiskey? Just got like six crates full of the stuff from Palatka thanks to a deal the other vaultie vomits churned out with the folks up there!"
"As long as we're stuck inside, do you guys mind if I take a look around in here? Never been to a library before- least not one on the surface.", Badger says, growing a little more restless now that tensions aren't so high.
Aeryicka just shook her head. 'Pointless male posturing,' she thought to herself as she allowed Cray to keep an eye on things. At least Cray was assured of his superiority in the grand scheme of things. Thinking of something, she looked up at the more friendly of the two and asked, "Have spare meds? Running low, but not sure what to trade."
The alpha male bird that Aeryicka met which introduced himself with pointless male posturing poops on a random book.
"Yeah, we got a handful of stims, and I guess we could spare a super stim, too."
Mac leans over and whispers to Tom. "Is your friend okay? She a bilingual tribal and just learning the language, or what?"
Badger starts wandering around the library, looking for anything that might be interesting- particularly any pre-War maps of the state.
Notice:
Kristophe grunts It ain't half bad. Better'n some bathtub stuff I've had back in the Vault.
Kris keeps a watchful eye on the armored men, no matter their friendliness he doesn't trust em.
Badger finds a large, rolled up map of the state of Florida. It is a political map with county divisions noted, rivers and lakes noted, and moderate and major cities outlined, as well as highways. Indian River, he notes, is one of the counties mentioned, north of Miami along the east coast of Florida.
"Sweet!", Badger exclaims, folding up the map and pushing it into his backpack. He busies himself a little more with finding a small pan to boil water, if he can find a staff kitchen or break room, and on the off chance that maybe some helpful librarian forgot her bobby pins 200 years ago and otherwise just looking over what's left of the place, trying to imagine what it must have been like before everyone died or went underground.
Notice:
Ace:
Scrounging through her backpack, all Aeryicka was able to come up with were the rounds to the .32 pistol she lost the previous day. Holding them out, she said, "Just have these for trade. They worth much?"
Cray, meanwhile, finished with his business, flaps his wings to get comfortable before placing his head beneath one wing, for all the world appearing as though asleep.
"Not really to me, no, but I'm sure Jameson back in base will sell it out to scavengers. You seem to be in a spot, so we'll do what we can."
Kristophe just grunts, he'd rather be away from these a$%@#@@s.
Timmy digs around in Kris' backpack, earning a glare from Kris but nothing else. Timmy brings out some cooked Radroach and begins munching.
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Tom replies back to the paladin, softly, "Ya gotta keep in mind that we were just kicked out less than a week ago. The kid went from being in a sterile Vault surrounded by family and friends, to sleeping in a bombed-out school building eating radroaches and drinking dirty water with a bunch of people she doesn't know that well. She's taken it...surprisingly well, all told. If we can get her in a stabilized community, her socialization may return to normal. Excuse me a moment, I think I'll look around for some books myself."
Jimmy sees Tim start to eat, and pulls out some radroach of his own.
Tom finds a quiet corner, and pulls out a cooked pectoral muscle. Eating it with relish, he drowns it with a bottle of toilet water, and feels greatly refreshed for it. He stretches, his body feeling almost new, and goes about looking for a water source to try and refill his bottle.
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Aeryicka shrugged before putting the bullets back into her bag. Since it seemed to be dinner time, she pulled out a can of beans and popped the lid off. "What use for money?" she asked before pouring some of the beans into her mouth.
"Some towns tried to print money, like Kingdom, where Orlando used to be. They got their own cash, and will try to pay you in it, but most use pre-war bottlecaps. The Hood offers you a line of credit towards future purchases. We give out holotags that identify your status with us and act like prewar debit cards if you don't have a Pipboy, otherwise we run through one of them."
Speaking of Pipboys, as Badger continues to rummage, he finds a skeleton with one on its wrist wired into a broken computer, the body long dead, the device still running!
"Holy crap!", Badger says before pulling the PipBoy from the corpse and walking back to where everyone's holed up.
"Check it out, I found a map and this sweet PipBoy!", he says triumphantly.
He starts fiddling with it, seeing what might be left on the thing from the poor sap in the library.
Aeryicka nodded at the explanation, though she wondered why bottle caps of all things seemed to be the main currency of the place. When Badger came back with his finds, she just asked, "It have Red Menace?"
"I hope so, a quick game would take our minds off of drinking toilet water and fighting radroaches for a dead guy's clothes or that gym full of dead people or the zombies dressed like nuns that weren't wearing any clothes like the nuns in the magazines my uncle had."
Kristophe snickers at Badger. Them weren't nuns dummy... he laughs.
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Tommy gives a side-long gaze at Badger's new toy. Outwardly he pays it no mind. Inward he is possessed by avarice without peer. Gripped by a curiosity unquenchable by any other means, he taps Jimmy on the shoulder and the two of them explore the strange building.
As they separate from the group, Jimmy take another view. "Y'know, as an intact building full of time-passing books, you'd think this place would be well scavenged, or at least someone's home. Perhaps the world is not as poorly off as we imagine. Or, at least, information must needs be of so ample a supply that numbers of peoples have not looted this for all it is worth. This should be pondered."
Thomas nods. Such logic is sound. In addition to wandering the halls, both of them allow their gazes to linger on some few titles. Both silently acknowledge that they will almost definitely be leaving with at least one more book than they came with.
The night goes by without trouble. Despite Mac's trust of you all, James, much like Kristophe, is wary, and the two spend the night eyeing one another through squinted glances.
The boarded windows rattle like crazy as the brunt of the hurricaine hits through the night.
Suddenly, there's a massive SLAM in the middle of the night, and a huge chunk of the roof gets ripped clean off as debris from the nearby town slams into the building you're in.
It doesn't actually hurt you guys, but now the water and wind are pouring in, and you're all unable to get a good night's sleep through the night, as the wind is blowing it literally in every crevice you can hide in.
You glance through the hole in the door and can see trees tipped over, and the sheer amount of wind and rain are ridiculous. It's not as bad as a tornado, but it seems just unending.
Eventually, by the time the sun rises the next day, the worst of it is gone, and it's down to a light drizzle with a few gusts of wind.
By the time morning is done, with bags under his eyes, Mac rises up and puts on his helmet.
"Time to see if you put your caps where your mouth is. Nobody got a good night's sleep, but the SP and the others didn't check in. I've got his tracer moving...hm...looks like to the southwest, oddly enough. That's not good. Everglades." He shakes his head solemnly.
Badger groggily rubs the sleep from his eyes.
"I take the Everglades are pretty rough, then?"
"If you think gators that evolved petrified scales, giant skeeters that make the ones up north look like an annoyance, and tribals that hate everyone that isn't them are rough, yeah, a bit rough. Figures muties would hide there... Also, a lot of it is swamp land. Water up to your crotch isn't fun. I think there's a friendly tribe of NeoSem exiles near the border we can hit up on the way there for info and supplies if you need. They're a bit on the primitive side, but not as bad as the NeoSems themselves. Can any of you run a boat?"