Craterside Supply

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

When Ellen opens the door again, it leads back into Megaton, which is as dusty and cow-smelling as ever. "This way," she says, picking her way first down the stairs cut into the side of the crater, then up a winding walkway that leads over a shack with a two-headed cow out front. "That's the town clinic, by the way. Not that I've been in there yet, but that's where I was headed when I found myself at the Bar."

Comments

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle's picked up a few rocks herself. At Ellen's question she peers at the yellow thing. "I'm not sure. Do you want me to hit it from here with a rock?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"By all means," murmurs Ellen, backing up carefully.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle moves back to a safe distance and tosses the rock at the yellow thing. She hits it dead on.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Kaboom!*

Once the dust clears there is a lot less rubble. "I'm guessing that was a mine," Annabelle says dryly.

Annabelle's good humor disappears when a gunshot rings out. Her choice of words at that likely expands Ellen's profane vocabulary. Annabelle's looking, but she can't see who made that shot.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen ducks and covers fast when that happens, although her eyes are wide when she looks up. "Is that car smoking?" she says, indicating the half-intact hulk across the road somewhat farther up. "Did it hit the-"

It's not smoking any more. It's on fire now.

If Annabelle has any kind of a danger sense this is the part where it goes off in spades.

[aeons_crackshot]

Does Annabelle have any kind of danger sense? Does a bear poo in the woods?

Annabelle survived 14 years as an adventurer, and her instincts are screaming at her right now. Annabelle is all business right now. Someone is going to be in big trouble once Annabelle catches sight of them.

"I think we've got trouble, Ellen. Stay sharp!"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Okay-"

And that would be where the car explodes.

At least it's a small mushroom cloud...?


(Oh, and whoever shot at the car takes another potshot in their direction almost as soon as the smoke clears.)

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle snarls and tries to see where that pot-shot came from. "You misbegotten little..." the words following that are likely incomprehensible to Ellen, as they aren't in English, but a veritable mishmash of foreign languages. "I'm going to put a bullet in your skull for that!"

"Are you alright Ellen?" Annabelle asks without ever stopping her search for whoever is shooting at them.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

To someone with fast enough reflexes and enough experience- which is to say, Annabelle and not Ellen- that bullet came from somewhere elevated. For all that the ground is sloped and leads inevitably upward from their current location, that's not enough elevation to account for the bullet. Whoever it is, he's got a rooftop position or higher.

"I'm fine," says Ellen, who's frantically scanning the area to make sure that there aren't any other explosive packages lying around. "Oh- I think- okay, there's one up ahead. I'm going to try and defuse it, so you'd better be ready to run..."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle catches a flash of light from a rooftop a few houses down. "Damn! There's a sniper on the roof a few houses down!" She shouts to Ellen.

"If you can take out that mine, I think I can get close enough to hit him with my pistols. I ought to be able to reach him if I can get just a little past the next house."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right," says Ellen. "I'll work on it. Good luck!" She drops into a crouch and starts moving very, very slowly towards the yellow of the half-hidden mine.

As for Annabelle... well, the shooter's a little higher up than she thought. Beyond the houses there's the remains of a school building, more a couple of wall fragments and some masonry here and there. At the angle of the street, it's easy to mistake someone on the remains of the third floor for a sniper on the roof of the last house. Not that that's likely to make much of a difference given her aim and her range... but he is still shooting, and there are other mines, both in the street and out of it, lying in wait for the unwary.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle dodges the sniper's gunfire and ducks behind a pile of rubble. Once she's moved forward a bit, it becomes clearer that he's on the third floor of the school.

"Ellen, our sniper is on the third floor of that big building!" She's a bit disgusted at having made that particular mistake, even with the angle. Unfortunately, she doesn't dare move forward until Ellen's taken out that mine. She moves a bit away from Ellen and opens fire. She knows full well that he's not yet in range, but she's hoping to keep him from firing at Ellen for a bit.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There's a yelp from the school building's direction. Someone hadn't expected a coordinated approach. The next bullet he fires is aimed in Annabelle's direction.

(Fortunately, that's about the point when a brief, heartstopping beebeebee noise is replaced by "Gotcha!" and a mine being waved in the air over Ellen's head.)

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle cackles with glee when Ellen starts waving the mine over her head. "Way to go, Ellen!"

Annabelle dodges the shot by making a sudden somersault. She then decides it's time to go bowling for mines.

She takes a handful of rocks and scatters them so they spread out and bounce down the road. Considering that Daredevil's tend to be the favorites of Lady Luck, this will hopefully set off any mines between Annabelle and the minimum distance needed to bring the Sniper in range.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

BeebeebeeTHOOM!

BeebeebeebeeTHOOM!

BeebeebeeTHOOM!!

The town earned its name, that's for damned sure. On the other hand, it does leave a good clear stretch of road for anyone willing to risk that sniper now.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle cackles a bit as the mines explode, then moves down the road, dodging gunfire.

It's almost a shame that the Sniper isn't making much of an effort to duck or hide, there's a reason Annabelle's nick-name was 'Crackshot', after all.

Annabelle takes aim with her Hell pistol, targeting the spot directly between the sniper's eyes, firing from just inside her 120 yard range.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Whereas the sniper's nickname... Well, let's be honest; it was 'Arkansas'. Which, while it is an honourable state in its own right, is not really the most militarily inspiring state unless your name is Carlos Hathcock. And this man? Is no Carlos Hathcock.

There's a strangled little cry as his head jerks forward (jet propulsion from the exit wound) and the rifle falls from his lifeless hands.

[aeons_crackshot]

Hopefully, 'Arkansas' doesn't have any more friends, but Annabelle's not counting on it.

"The sniper is down!" Annabelle calls back to Ellen. "Are you alright?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I'm good!" Ellen calls in return. "In fact, I got started on-"

BeeBeeBee- And then silence.

"Okay, that's two mines for Moira..."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Good show! Do you want a rifle?" Annabelle asks, pointing to where the sniper met his end. I'm presuming that whatever he was using is still up there."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen considers this, then says, "Can you show me how to use it?"

That'd be a yes.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle grins, "That I can. I've never met a weapon I couldn't use, and I've got experience with rifles. They're what I used when I was with the circus, as a matter of fact."

"I'm hoping we don't have to scale the side of that building."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right, then," says Ellen. "Let's go see about finding it."

They won't have to scale the building, as it happens. There are stairs left, crawling along the far wall- gappy and broken here and there, but stairs. There are also mines on the ground floor, but Ellen's quick to spot them and either disarm them or huck a rock before they get too close.

When they reach the second floor, a grungy mattress pressed up against one wall gives mute evidence to the amount of time the sniper used to spend here. There's a knee brace, a crutch, and some surgical tubing laid out alongside it. Ellen shakes her head. "If he needed all these," she says, "how did he get up here?"

There's a pause as she realizes that the sniper's corpse is, in fact, another level up entirely.

"And why didn't he have them on him?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"They may not be his," Annabelle states as she looks around the room. "Even if they are, he may have been able to move around for brief periods of time without them. I can't tell you why he didn't take them up to the third floor with him, though."

"We'd best keep an eye out for trouble, buildings have all sorts of places for people to hide in."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. Even with most of its walls missing both inside and out, this place is still a gift to those who want to hide. Not that they find anything more in their searches beyond several metal ammo boxes full of .308 rounds, but still.

Eventually they reach the top floor, which is open to the sky. Much of the floor is missing, too, whether from bombing or from age. On one of the few pieces of reasonably intact floor, the sniper's corpse is sprawled, his rifle alongside him. He's an elderly man- or he was, anyway- largely bald and dressed in crudely tanned leathers. Ellen winces at the sight. "You sort of have to wonder what drove him to it," she murmurs.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle moves over to retrieve the rifle. "Desperation, madness, we'll likely never know the reason why." Annabelle moves her hand to close his eyes, her expression faintly sad.