A Raiders Morality

[evilneko]

Sasha glared up at the roof for a moment, then looked to her sister as she started exiting the building. She replied to the look Aisha gave her with a glance toward the roof hatch and a wink. She grabbed a pistol--smaller and easier to use in close quarters than her favored AER9--and a grenade and strapped on a combat helmet before going to the ladder. She climbed up and reached up to open the hatch, but was met with resistance. She blinked and tried again, but the hatch wouldn't budge, even a little. Great. Whoever was up there was smart enough to block the hatch. Not smart enough not to mess with the Black Cats, but still smarter than the average dumbass who tried. Granted, the average dumbass who tried couldn't even get past the traps much less onto the roof...

 

She grumbled and hopped down from the ladder. She didn't like this. Three visitors now, two of which had bypassed the trap field as if it wasn't there. At least one of them had turned out to be friendly. This one... was holding them at gunpoint. She needed a plan, but she didn't have one. Priority one was taking care of Aisha though. She didn't know if the man on the roof had any idea how many people there were inside, and didn't know what he might do if she didn't come out. Grimacing, she stuffed the grenade into a pocket, the pistol into her belt, and slung her laser before she headed outside. She closed the door behind her, locking it. If the worst happened, at least the guy would have to pick a strong lock. She moved to take a position between a transformer and the fence, and glared up at Cadeus, awaiting his answer to Aisha's question.

[monkybuttface]

Surn grimaced. The eyebot had been somewhat distracting, and by the time he had shot it and yelled into the door he was no longer in any position to escape. At least the eyebot was dead, rounds from his magnum had entered the casing, one into the hard drive, one into the propulsion system. The thing was a very small model and was practically gutted. No way it could be repaired unless the guy had another eyebot to scavenge parts from.

 

"Ok, don't go shooting nobody, no reason for that. Your a bounty hunter right? You weren't payed for one of us, you have no reason to be killing random people. Just tell us what you want, I will try to answer to the best of my abilities, and maybe they will too, can't speak for somebody else." He took his finger off the trigger of his magnum, held the grip with two fingers, and placed it back into it's holster.

 

He doubted any kind of booby trap could still be operable on the eyebot, but he would rather not take that chance, and now wasn't a good time to point out mistakes to the guy.

[Zephyr2011]

"Alright, first things first, name's Cadeus. And yes Mr. Perceptive I am a bounty hunter, and even though I'm not getting paid you should realize that everyone's got a price on their heads for some reason or another and you've got sme fancy tech, just a word to the wise always be prepared for the eventuality that anyone might gun you down for any reason. That's something you learn quick, and I'm suprised you've been so quick to forget it given your combat record." He said conversationally, his guard was up however he wasn't overly paranoid or suspicious. "And to answer your question I'm fist going to say, bull poo you raiders don't get out very often. And I'm willing to bet you've seen the Deathclaw tracks. Different from the others, a jeuvenile's size, about a foot and a half in length but on the sole theres small pinholes from tiny claws for traction. Unique. There's also some boots with a giant gash from heat-melt on their bottoms like-wise unique, always near eachother, they don't seperate for more than a half mile. I want hear everything you know about them." He said suddenly grave.

[Nekochild08]

Aisha's eyes never left the bounty hunter as he talked about them having fancy equipment and how someone was going to try to gun them down for any reason at all. She understood that more than anyone else. Well, maybe not her sister but that was another matter. Bringing her focus back on Cadeus, she gave him a genuine look of confusion as she said. "Deathclaw? I've never heard of anything like that around here. The worst we get down here are big scorpions and other raiders. I really don't know what this deathclaw thing is." Anyone with half a brain, or spent enough time in the wastes to develop superhuman agility and perception, would know that she was telling the truth about not knowing what he was talking about.

[evilneko]

Sasha frowned and cocked her head. Deathclaw? She looked over at Aisha.

 

"Ne, didn't one of those caravan guys mention something about a deathclaw? Said they were big things with huge claws and horns.." She shrugged, looking back up at Cadeus. "Ain't never seen it. And tracks? We don't care about tracks. Maybe this guy knows, we don't."

 

Sasha stepped half behind the transformer, keeping an eye on Cadeus, but also shielding half her already small body. "You mind unbarring our roof hatch now mister mindreader?"

[monkybuttface]

Surn was genuinely pissed at himself, completely and thoroughly PISSED OFF. This guy was telling him all this crap, and HE WAS RIGHT DAMMIT. Surn really had gotten slack lately, he had done nothing bigger than throw drunks out of bars for months now, and that time spent idle had dulled him. He was still in great physical shape, but his mind had forgot everything but the most basic rules of survival. He shouldn't have put his gun away, most people wouldn't risk the possibility that shooting someone would cause a reflexive trigger pull, led to a lot of standoffs, and the man was not close enough to disarm. If he drew now he would likely get shot up, he was quick, but he did not want to shoot the guy, and if he drew that would be his only option, reflex would likely lead to a burst of fire, no second thought, this guy was hardwired to take such things as a threat.

He didn't have much fancy gear, except his clothes, sort of fiber that changed colors that allowed a sort of camouflage, not really that good but better than nothing.

 

"A juvenile death claw? And someone with heat burns on their shoes? I remember last time I was at Megaton I saw a guy with burnt shoes, I know because I went through his stuff while he was with Nova. Seemed like a dangerous man, Ol' Moriarty wanted to know a little more about him. I was the bouncer, and the best searcher, hard to hide anything dangerous from me. I don't know about the death claw, but I think I heard somebody say something about escaping one, and your right, I got slack. Guess it comes from sitting around bars all day."

[Zephyr2011]

Cadeus swore under his breath. "He's finally let go of his old boots, male without a father. That's not my man, he wouldn't hire a angel and no one escapes that Deathclaw without getting a bullet intheir brain in return. Tricky son of a female dog must have sold the boots back at Lebanon, that was where the trail went cold." He agitatedly slung his REPR back over his shoulder and secured it. "Out of leads again, dammit." after lots of thinking out loud the bounty hunter remembered the Cat-like girl's request and unbarred the hatch. "Your little safe house is accessible again now."

[monkybuttface]

"Well, you didn't let me finish, the man was a trader, one of the kind you can't decide how he gets his goods, told a story bout someone he had dealt with on the trail, and now that I think about it, the guy who said they got away from a deathclaw was talking about how big it was, not a juvenile. My memory ain't so good, little defect I have, I apologize. The man didn't say where he met the guy at, maybe Arefu? Im not sure.... If you follow those tracks the deathclaw will probably diverge somewhere, where he sold the boots, and if you can find the trader he might know more? I have done bounty hunting before, so those are just what I would investigate." Surn shook his head vigorously, his head was hurting, and his thoughts were getting fuzzy. He hated when he got like this.

"of course, none of this necessarily means anything, the deathclaw could have been stalking him, and he could have bought the boots off of someone who had bought them from the guy you are after. Traders are known to do that kind of thing. And a juvenile death claw might know it can't take a heavily armed individual, so it is tracking until it gets a better chance to strike, but of course that is only a possibility, and a rather unlikely one considering the coincidence."

[evilneko]

Sasha smirked. It seemed all the bounty hunter's efforts had gone to waste, worse, all he had to show for it was a broken robot. Served him right, she figured. He could've just asked the next time they came out, or sent the damn robot to knock on the door.

 

"Sounds like you're just shet outta luck, ain'tcha. Now why don't you get off my roof and start walkin', Arefu's that way," She pointed off behind her, to the north, "an' tell 'em the Black Cats sent ya. They're sure to be real nice then. I'd tell ya to watch out for the traps, but I think you know. Besides," she said after a pause, "You're gonna attract attention standin' up there."

[Zephyr2011]

Cadeus narrowed his eyes at Sasha, "Watch yourself girl, arrogance doesn't stop a bullet. And the 'robot' is far from broken, It'll take just 2 spare parts that I've got to make it fully operational again. As to attracting attention well, that sounds like your problem not mine." In an act of vengenace he threw a couple frag grenades high into the sky which detonated in mid-air, sure to attract attention. He stepped backwards towards the hatch and kicked it open, conveniently left unlocked after the failed attempt to open it and dropped down into the power station, slamming it shut and locking it behind him, with his REPR aimed at the door as he approached it to lock it as well.