The Trail

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens, as it often does, on a patch of scrub desert under a cloud-studded sky. Peering eastward, you can make out the shape of a shattered, once-elevated highway in the light of the just-risen sun, and perhaps the jagged edges of the tallest parts of the Megaton city walls. The air is a little cooler than it's been on past visits, and here and there the brown and yellow scrub that characterizes Wasteland vegetation seems to be sharing space with hazes of green.

There's also kind of an overwhelming stink of cow, because Ellen left Megaton astride Shiphrah and Puah and the Brahmin is busily chewing its cud with one head nearby. Ellen pats the other head briefly with one stealth-suited hand as she says, "We're not far from the caravan route where the raiders ambushed our water men. This is the nearest door I could find."

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"You just described about three quarters of the freaks in this part of the Wasteland," the man says. "If they're anything like every other merry band of wastrels, they're probably back at Evergreen Mills by now, assuming something didn't eat them first."

There's a pause.

"Were you planning on going after them?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"This lot had better weapons than normal, nearly new."

"Yeah, we're going after them. You might say it's in the job description. Evergreen Mills, eh? Where is that from here?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"You're not going to have much of a chance if there's only three of you," says the man bitterly. "Armored battle cow or no. They're entrenched as hell in there and they've got their very own minefield. For your sake, I hope you can fly."

He jerks a thumb over his shoulder, in a direction not too different from the way the scent trails seemed to indicate. "About half a day's foot travel from here. It's an old railroad depot built into the sides of a canyon and dug way, way down into the local rock."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods. "Wicked. Thanks, dude," he says, clapping the stranger on the shoulder. "C'mon, Elastigirl and Vixen, let's get-" -cue a half-second of completely blanking on the cow's name- "-Daisy saddled up and head over there."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Annabelle replies with a sharp, rather dangerous looking, smile. "I've seen worse odds."

"Thanks for the information, Mister."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

A hesitant look crosses his face; he nods slowly and says, "You're welcome-"

And then, apparently, reaches some kind of a decision. With the uneasy face of someone who got a postcard from the doctor saying "Call us about the abnormality", he says, "Say, question. You three don't by any chance know where I could find this 101 woman they talk about on the radio?"

[boston_bruiser]

That stops Voodoo cold.

But after a split second, he decides to err on the side of safety and shakes his head, his lower lip jutted out in a way that seems to say sorry, pal.

"Nah, man, no clue. Why you ask?"

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle too, decides to err on the side of caution after a split second. "She was in Canterbury Commons a while ago, but I couldn't tell you where she is right now."

Which is technically true, as Ellen is currently invisible. "You owe her money or something?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

He scrubs at his face with one hand and a despairing look before answering.

"I'm sorry. Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you three have a prayer in Hell of wiping out what's nesting in Evergreen Mills by yourselves. If... if half of what I hear about her is true, she might be able to do it," he says.

"No offense."

[boston_bruiser]

...huh. Okay.

Voodoo nods along, crossing his arms.

"Well, I think we've done pretty well on our own so far. No need to take up any of her time just yet."

[aeons_crackshot]

"We're not going to go in guns blazing. If it looks too ugly, well, we'll see what help we can get."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Good luck," the man says reluctantly. "You're going to need it."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo nods, giving the stranger another obnoxious clap on the shoulder. "You too, man. 'n see about gettin' that rifle of yours looked at, yeah? Magazine's about to fall right outta the well."

[aeons_crackshot]

"And you should probably bandage yourself up some, before you get gangrene on top of all your other problems."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I plan on it, as soon as I can manage," says the man. "Things've gotten pretty ugly in these parts lately. Sometimes all you can do to stay alive is keep moving."

And frankly, that doesn't really look like the face of a man who likes his life very much right now.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods and rummages through her pack. "Ah, thought I had a stimpak left. Here." She hands him the healing injection. "Don't know that it'll get all of it, but it should heal the worst of 'em."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The man gives her a grateful look and casts a quick glance around. "I think I have a few caps on me," he says. "Nowhere near market value for one of these things, but it's at least something..."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Think of it as payment for the information," Annabelle replies, waving off his offer of caps. "We could have been out here for ages trying to track those bastards back to their base."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"If you say so, ma'am," says the man. "Just- be careful, all right? That place... it isn't a good place."

[aeons_crackshot]

"We'll be careful," she assures him. She's seen the kinds of things raiders consider entertainment and interior decorating.

[boston_bruiser]

Are you sick of obnoxious claps on the shoulder, mister? Because Voodoo sure isn't.

"Yeah," he says, "what Elastigirl said."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right," says the man reluctantly. "Good luck."

He'd watch them go a little more closely, but he's got a stimpak to inject at the first chance he gets.

[aeons_crackshot]

Once they're out of earshot, Annabelle turns to Voodoo. "Elastigirl, REALLY? You suck at naming."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo shrugs a whatcha gonna do? shrug. "You look flexible. What was I supposed to do, give him our real names?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"For the record," says a nearby blurry patch of air, "if anyone asks for my superhero name, it's Night Ghost, thank you very much."