It Takes Two To Tango! [Fallout RP: Retribution|Lanta]

[Retribution]

​

Whistling, whistling into the wind was the only sound being made besides the rattle of tin roofs, wooden planks and the random rolling can. It was a sweet melody, something from the pre-War days before the bombs had fell over the world. The whistling tune coming from a man dressed in a black leather trench coat, a pack strapped to his back with various of weapons attached to it. He wore riot gear underneath, a pair of numbers labeled on the neck portion read O8. In his arms being held like a baby was the man's Marksmen Carbine. The black glossy weapon rattled a bit due to the strap.


The man came to the end of the road he was on, a stop sign keeping him from moving any further. Stop, stop for what? There wasn't any cars around but to the man the sign meant a lot. He took the time to scan his surroundings with his keen augmented eyes. He sighed at the sight, nothing but ruined buildings. The day was still young and he still had a ways to go till he reaches junker settlement of Megaton. When the man was content with the surroundings he continued to walk onwards. The ends of his jacket flapping and fluttering with each step. He could feel the sun's rays pound against his eyes and so he took his hand off his weapon and reached into his coat to grab his aviator shades and placed them over his face. He turned the ball cap he was wearing around where to where the flap was over them too just to keep his eyes away from too much unwanted light. Though thanks to his eyes he spotted something up ahead, someone was moving towards him. He took his carbine up and moved his shades upwards out of his eyes and looked down the scope of his carbine. It was a woman, a woman was heading towards his area. He could see she had weapons, she was fine, no mutations nothing out of uncertain. He didn't know if he should stay in the open or signal her. He decided on signaling her.


"[Whistles real loudly] Hey! Friendly! Friendly over here!"


He waved his hand around a bit before lowering it back down. He hoped she understood he was using military analogy; friendly meaning he wasn't going to fire or attack her. He had hoped he shouted loud enough but he decided maybe he'd meet her half way and so he quickly took off into a jog. His gear bouncing and rattling with each step. He didn't have much but it was mostly his weapons he had with him. The biggest being his military grade anti-material rifle was strapped down the center of his pack while his AA-12 automatic shotgun was slung on the side of his pack. His two pistols were holstered on his back and his Ranger Sequoia was holstered on his side.

 

[Lanata]

It was a scalding day, no wind, and very little shade in the area, so she wandered on down the road, her midrift open to the world, as her shirt had been ripped beforehand, and tied just underneath her breasts, cargo trousers perched on her waist, secured tightly by a belt a little too big for her so it fell upon a handmade hole.


She had her long red hair tied back in this heat, tied back in a pony tail that fell to just below her waist and gave a soft breeze down her back as she walked, a gun positioned on either side of her thighs, holstered securely, a katana secured on her back, its strap falling over her chest. She also had shades on, shielding her delicate eyes from the direct glare of the sun. She was a lovely sun kissed colour, despite her pale tone before everything had emerged.


It made her irritable, this heat, the lack of supplies, the beasts she encountered, it was all just a fight for survival, trusting no one, everyone she met tried to kill her or overcome her, but everytime they failed and she took off with their supplies, and this bloody idiot was calling her down the road. Ok, he seemed to be friendly, calling her a friendly, but was that a facade or was it legit? She continued walking down the street, until they were close, when she stopped, hand gripping on to the handle of one of her pistols. She could never be too careful.


"Can I help you?"

 

[Retribution]

"Um, yeah! I suppose so. Do you happen to know if this road is taking me straight to Megaton?"


He noticed immediately that her hand was gripping the handle of her pistol on her hip. He didn't mind it but if she wanted to kill him she better hope that bullet can do more than just rattle his Adamantium skull. He didn't hold anything against her, but she did look rather attractive with her top tied the way it was. Perhaps he could turn on a little bit of extra charm thanks to the science boys of the N.C.R. He held his hands up and pointed towards an abandoned house where he walked too. He proceeded to take off his equipment and guns; he placed the bag down on a side walk and leaned the guns against the charred remains of the house. Then slowly he took off his heavy trench coat that protected him from dust storms and flying bullets.





"So do you happen to have a name? My name is Lance, ex Ranger from the N.C.R. I don't take it you know what that is, do you?"





The coat revealed the tight fitting riot gear he wore underneath. It formed around his body like a second layer of skin. Even his legs held armor plating but were not as tight fitting as the armor around his torso and arms. He folded the coat up neatly before strapping it to his pack and grabbing a less cumbersome jacket and threw it around his body. The black tight fitting armor was rather comfortable and cooling since it ventilates rather well. He grabbed his gear and started to place it back on him quickly. He had the figure of a soldier, of course with a little help from implants that increased his body mass but he made it look good having bulging muscles and not looking like a mutant freak.

 

[Lanata]

Upon the other being so blunt she frowned, but a small smile slipped onto her lips.


"No... this is the road you take if you want to avoid big cities such as this Megaton. the road you need is just through the valley over there...."


And she pointed to the valley just behind her, an entrance appearing to the naked eye just to the right. Watching him closely, her hand twitched but then dropped to her side as he took off his jacket in front of her and sorted himself out


"The heat getting to you?"


She smiled, taking her hat off to run a hand through her long hair before replacing the hat to cover her eyes. She of course, couldn't help her eyes breeze over his highly muscular form, what a surprise, for someone with that many guns to be that ripped.


"I am not aware of N.C.R you are correct, but then again, I am not from around here, My name is Ruby, I'm from the special ops division back home in England."

 

[Retribution]

"England, huh? I guess they wasn't all dead like I thought."


He looked to the valley entrance and then took out his tactical compass and made a few adjustments. The remain radiation within the ground may still be affecting the magnetic field therefore disrupting his instrument. He placed the black compass back into pouch on his utility belt and sighed. He grabbed his carbine and sighed a bit before turning around. Before he could turn around he heard the loud snap of a gunshot. Lance quickly took cover and quickly looked around. They were in the open and already the fight was beginning to find him. He looked over to the woman and made a motion for her to lower herself.


"Let's go Spec Ops, lower that head. It sounded like it came from behind you."


Lance brought carbine up to his face and looked down the scope. He aimed it towards the edge of the road where it made the crest of the hill. He could see a few faces popping up over the hill and they were wearing the recognizable armor of a raider. He knew he wasn't going to wait to take a shot so he held his breath and squeezed the trigger firing off a shot and striking a raider right between the eyes. The head jerked back with a pink mist of his brains exploding out. His friends all scattered and yelled trying to figure out where the shot came from.


"Hooha. Handle the ones on the left, and I'll get the ones on the right. If you do that, I'll buy ya a drink."


He stuck close to the walls of the burnt house and quickly advanced on the scared raiders. He could hear them calling out for each other. The one he was after spoke in a grating voice, it was annoying. The ex-Ranger made his way around a corner and stopped to see if the red head was making her way. She looked to be a more up and close type of person since she wielded a sword, that was hot he thought. Lance peeked his head around the corner and saw the grating voiced raider try to get his dead buddies equipment. Lance smirked and brought up the scope and fired another shot blowing out the raiders knee and then firing once more in the back of his head.

 

[Lanata]

"Oh trust me... they tried... a few of us got away"


Again came that smile, but it soon faded as she looked to the side of their location. She has enhanced eyesight, so she picked up on movement, before a normal eye.


She had already ducked by the time he had heard the shot, moving to a pillar of this crumbling house. She looked to Lance as he loaded and looked through the scope just to clarify. If she were by herself, she would have been up there in a heartbeat before they even knew what was coming.


Unfortunately, they were at the disadvantage, they had the higher ground, and the two of them had the lower.


She nodded, once she had her orders and ran off, she ran closer to the ledge and moved quickly, the glint of silver flashing momentarily as three sets of knives found themselves perched into the ledge itself and she ran up them, somersaulting over the ledge, katana drawn and slicing the three raiders that stood there aimed on Lance.


One had just gone round the corner to prepare and came round, freezing at the sight of her there, causing her to smile, casually walk up to him and kick him in between the legs, bringing a knife into his windpipe.


"Man that was too easy...."

 

[Retribution]

The male smirked seeing her finish off the last raider. He made his way to them and started loot their bodies. He grabbed a few boxes of ammo and some bobby pins. He left the rest for the woman to loot herself. When Lance got what he needed from the bodies he slung his carbine over his shoulder and grabbed a rubber tube with a white tip at the end and stuck it to his mouth. He sucked a few times getting a quick drink of water before letting it drop out from his mouth.


"My name is Lance DeWitt Walberg of the New California Republic. I'm ex-Ranger, and I see you Brits train their soldiers well. Nice moves you had there. I try not to get too personal with my prey, they're usually dead before I get close to them."


He said with a large grin on his face. He tapped the barrel of his large anti-material rifle on his back. He then looked up to the sun then flipped down his shades over his eyes and pointed behind him towards the valley entrance.


"How about that drink I owe you? I'm headed to Megaton to drop off a package, I wouldn't mind an extra pair of eyes, I'm new to this area."

 

[Lanata]

"Does that formality mean that I impressed you Mr Wahlberg?"


She asked, that smile returning to her lips as she bent down to retrieve more ammo and to see what kind of guns the others had. Upon being dissatisfied she sighed and moved over to the now limp body of the raider, pulled her knife out from his throat and wiped it on his clothes to remove the blood, returning it to the notch in her belt, obviously made for this purpose. She stood and looked to him, before shaking her head.


"We were trained in traditional warfare, sometimes close range combat is unavoidable. It is best made for a woman or a weak looking person, makes their own victims underestimate them, Perfect deception."


She looked over to the valley as he motioned and frowned.


"You want to go to the city? to the heart of the cut throats and deceptors who would mug you blind with out a thought."


She shrugged, it wasn't like she had anything better to do, it was live or die in this world, and he seemed to trust her enough to invite her along, and she impressed him.


"Fair enough, I'll catch you up, gotta retrieve my weapons."


With that she jumped down the wall and as she fell, pulled her knives from the wall, and, as she landed in a crouch, they had all found themselves in the correct notch in her belt.

 

[Retribution]

He nodded his head and gave her a quick thumbs up. He turned his attention back to the valley entrance and started his way up the road and towards the open path. He noticed as he got closer that there was a sign with yellow painted words that spelled out "Megaton". He smirked and shook his head to himself as he proceeded through the entrance that led him through a small pass and finally came out the other end. He didn't tarry any longer and sped up upon seeing the large junk walls that protected the city that was built inside of a large crater. The closer he got to the city he could hear the rattling generators and rumbling of people who were inside. He soon spotted the town sheriff who was just standing outside the large steel gates. He was a tall African man wearing a sheriffs duster and hat. He held on to his sniper rifle that wasn't as big as the anti-material rifle but when the man noticed Lance approaching he held his hand up and shouted.


"Woah there pale! Let's see some identification."





"Alright, give me a second!"


Lance got closer and slung his carbine over his shoulder before digging into his utility belt. He pulled out a clear wallet that held a picture of himself and information of him being from the N.C.R. He quickly handed it over to the sheriff. It wasn't long that the man read over the papers and nodded his head in a content manner. He looked back up to the ex-Ranger and smiled.


"Welcome Mr. Walberg. I assume you're here to drop off that package we sent for few months back."


The black sheriff spoke with a flat voice and while he was speaking Lance quickly pulled out a small case from his pack and handed it over to the sheriff who took it in kind and smiled nodding his head.





"Head on inside, Mr. Walberg. The Moriarty's Saloon is open; tell me Sheriff Blake sentcha'!"

 

[Lanata]

As soon as she had performed her stint she joined him, walking beside,as calm and casually as she could manage, her head moving left to right now and again to scan the area. She was a creature of habit, and when it was just herself, she was fighting to survive, but now the two of them, she guessed it was better than being alone, but then again she was going back to the city.


She walked beside him and stopped when they reached the sheriff, he of course didnt ask for her ID as she had been here before and he recognised her, after all, there weren't that many redheads that owned a katana!


"Still out here Blake? shouldn't Jerry be relieving you yet?"


She laughed, causing the sheriff to smile and motion her inside, and she moved with Lance inside the gates. She hadnt been in the city itself, just the outskirts, and they were bad enough for a single gal.


"Dare i ask what was in the package Mr Wahlberg?"


She asked, mocking him slightly when she said his name.

 

[Retribution]

"A watch, just a watch he wanted from New Reno. Though I have no way of getting back to New Vegas I might as well stay here and find some work."


He said with sigh at the end. The each walked down the poorly placed steps down to the center of the crater. The entire place was built around a decommissioned nuclear bomb and they even had a church erected in its honor called "The Children of Atom". Lance thought this was pretty funny but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Lance was looking around at all the different people who didn't seem to mind him as a new comer, some at the food court of the town were taunting him to have a plate of their food, he just gave them a nod and kept on walking.





"I wonder if they have any work here."


Lance mumbled to himself just as they were walking up a metal ramp that once was an airplane wing. When they got to the top they turned around and headed towards the saloon. He pushed open the door and was struck by the smell of cigarette smoke and booze. Even the radio they had was playing, Lance had heard of the station before, Galaxy News Radio it was stationed out in the middle of the Super Mutant territories of D.C.

 

[Lanata]

She frowned at his response before shaking her head. She followed him down into the crater and looked round. It wasnt like she imagined, she imagined people slumming, people being scared and hungry, but in this case it wasnt that. It was nice to see, though she found herself quite confused, why wasnt it like this, why were these people living fine, and yet others were out there suffering? it was always something she queried, and tried to make different.


His next words caught her off guard but she remained silent. She knew full well there was work, whether it be something that would appeal to him, it was money nonetheless. She held her tongue as they went up the airplane, she found herself smiling, remembering the time she flew a plane much like this one and how free she felt, how times had changed.


She sighed upon the thought of this fact and followed him into the saloon looking round. Hmmm great what better entertainment then a bar full of men, she didnt see many women, with cigarettes and whiskey, your typical bar scene waiting to happen, with the hot headed female, and the drunk slow man. Again that smile came to her lips as she leant against the bar once they stopped and looked round.


"I'll have whatever you're having.... I trust your judgement."

 

[Retribution]

"I don't drink. I'm just here looking or work."


He looked at her with a serious face and spoke in a rather flat tone than normal. He quickly made his way to the bar and looked towards what appeared to be a Ghoul. The poor man had suffered so many burns his face was all scars and ugly rotted flesh, though Lance didn't mind just as long as the man didn't become feral.


"Hey bar keep, do you know anywhere I can get some work? Looking for something more military grade, something that requires muscle."


- "Uh, you're not gonna yell at me? I mean...oh, yes! Yeah! You'll wanna go speak with Loretta at Crater Side Supply. She has plenty of work needed and a bed you can sleep on."


"Thanks pal."


Lance gave him a few bottle caps as a thanks and turned around looking at the woman. He gave her a nod and headed back outside and walked to the local store of the town.

 

[Lanata]

Upon his tone and words a slick eyebrow curved upwards as she looked at him, Despite not knowing him for all too long, this didn't seem right, after all he owed her a drink.


"Man you really need to lighten up..."


She muttered underneath her breath before looking to the male behind the bar, he was a state, poor man, his wounds seemed to have not healed properly, and she found herself intrigued as to what had happened, but would not pry.


"A little bit of muscle? Speak for yourself..."


she smiled up at him, but listened to the bar keeps words. His words intrigued her further, why would they shout at him?


She moved with Lance, following him to this other lass, it made her smile that she was the head of things in regards to military, shows how kickass a woman can be.


"So you are a wanderer aren't you? looking for jobs from place to place. Doesn't that get boring or aggravating?"

 

[Retribution]

"How would it get boring? Going from town to town, working different jobs, get paid, upgrade your equipment, see new things and new people. I did have a real job, protecting the N.C.R. states but that didn't cut out too well as you can see."


Lance gave her an awkward look while he replied but he didn't mind her. He tossed her few caps for the drink he owed him. He just wanted to have a companion to follow him around, which was why he offered the drink. Once they made it to Crater Side Supply he opened the door to the shop and walked in. It wasn't too impressive but the shop was filled with odds and ends as well guns. There was a body guard sitting next to some black military cases, Lance eyed them closely and the body guard did the same to Lance.


~"Howdy there folks!! I see you two are new in town! Well let me introduce myself, I'm Loretta and that gentleman there is Sam, the shops guard. Now how can I help ya'll?!"


The woman spoke in a high chirpy country voice. It was rather pleasing to Lance since he was use to the tone back in the West. He walked in and started placing some of his guns on the counter; his 10mm pistols, his assault carbine, and his anti-material rifle. The woman looked at them with her bright green eyes and grinned. She knew what Lance wanted, he wanted an upgrade and when he pulled out a large sack of bottle caps the woman laughed in delight.


"Those black cases you have there, them the GM-JP models from the Army bunker up north?"


~"Yes sir! In them are the high powered guns from the pre-War times. Look, keep the caps and I'll take the guns off ya. But if you can do this job for me, I'll let you keep them. There's a super market not from from here called Super Duper Mart. There's food, and medical supplies; If you can get them, that'd be great."


Lance looked towards his new friend and raised an eyebrow, seeing if she approved.

 

[Lanata]

“But saying that… you sound like an errand boy….”


She smiled nudging his arm a little to show she was joking but then she got the awkward look and sighed shaking her head. Oh jeez was it really going to be like this all the time?


She almost didn’t have time to react when it came to him passing her a few caps, but nodded and put them in a pouch upon her belt, that almost couldn’t be seen, it blended into both the shorts and belt.


She sighed and followed him to the shop and leant on the wall as he spoke to the others. She looked over and a few swords and knives caught her eye. She moved over to look at them and spoke softly to the guard. With the few caps she had on her, she purchased a few new knives and nodded her head to him.


She then moved back to Lance and raised an eyebrow when he looked at her.


“Looks like another job for you…. Sure I’m in. Have fun with the gun… men and their guns jeez….”


She turned and walked out the door, holding it open for him.

 

[Retribution]

"Where do you think you're going? Grab the small cases and take it up to our room."


Lance grabbed the room keys and dangled them out towards her. He walked over to the big black plastic military case and heaved it up by the handle. He could feel the weight of whatever it was inside. It had warning labels all around it, this interested Lance even more.


He moved to the steel stair case and began to walk up them with loud thuds from his steel toed boots. The room wasn't far away from the step and slowly he slipped the metal key into the lock and turned it then opening the door and stuffing the keys back into his pocket. He walked in seeing the single bed, the shelves, lamps and the bathroom that was near by. He threw the case onto the bed and sighed waiting on Ruby to come up.


"Come on slow poke, those cases can't be that heavy! You're just carrying a assault rifle and some pistols."

 

[Lanata]

She looked back over him and gave him a look as if to say ‘you’re kidding right’ She walked back to him and knelt down to pick the cases up. They were a lot heavier that the swords and knives that she was used to and therefore groaned a little but managed to lift them.


She also walked to the staircase, and lifting the cases she walked slowly up the stairs, and once she moved up to the level that he now stood at, she glared at him, placing the cases at his feet.


“Next time…. I’m choosing the weapons. It’s ridiculous the weight of these things, whats wrong with a light and fast katana?”


She moved past him and looked into the room, instantly seeing the problem.


“You take the bed, I’ll take the floor. I prefere the hard wood against my back.”


She looked at him and laughed softly before walking in to the room and walked to the side placing her bag down under the window and slipped her katana from where it rested upon her back.


“I’d take one of these any day….”