[u][b]Steve Miller - The Last Plank[/b][/u]

Listening to Rose talk about the Institute, and "synths" pretending to be people....a old memory of the last time he'd been to Rivet City floated up to the surface. The Lone Wanderer had been through two weeks before and shot two men down like dogs in the Science Lab....people were still talking about it. Butch Deloria, ever eager to advertise his relationship with the Vault Kid, had plenty to say about it.

[color=00aeef]The Muddy Rudder - Ten Years Ago
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[i]"Wish I'd have seen it", Butch DeLoria said gleefully as he nursed his beer. "That hot brunette down in the Science Lab, Janice, told me all about it when I did her hair last week. She said the old guy, Zim, or something, had been bugging the Dragon Lady (what pretty much everyone outside the Lab called Dr Li behind her back) trying to get her help finding this "android". She thought he was a fruitcake so she wouldn't see him, told Janice to play "Talk to the Hand" with him. Guy hung around for nearly a month, then Richie (DeLoria was proud of the fact he was one of the few people to be on a first name basis with the Lone Wanderer, as he had grown up with him and run off from the Vault himself after they had some kind of riot down there) swings through and talks to the guy and agrees to help him out."

"Did he find him?", Steve asked. "Is that who he shot in the Lab?"

"Nah, man", Butch answered. "He went around asking questions, rumor has it he even went into the bow of this old rust-bucket looking for clues. But about a week later, he rolls into the Science Lab. He goes up to Zim, and tells him he found out who he was looking for. Janice says he whispered the name in his ear so she didn't hear it. But she heard what came next. Zim was all happy with what Richie told him, and paid him off. then Richie unslings the plasma rifle he had slung on his back and holds it up like he was showing it to him. 

"He gave me this rifle", Richie said to him, "I think his idea was that I kill you and your friend with it."

Zim laughed and laughed, but Janice said then Richie suddenly got all ice cold.

"But you know what the pity is...", Richie said as he started to take aim at them, "...when I'm paid to do a job, I always follow my job through."

"Then Zap! Zap!", DeLoria said as he held up both hands mimicked with shooting a rifle at something, "he dusts them both where they stand!" 

"WTF?", Steve said with astonishment, "Right in front of everybody? That's nuts! Did they arrest him? How did he get out of that?"

"Nope", DeLoria said with a smirk, "Dragon Lady had a cow, but she really got mad when she called Security and they told her Zim and his friend were spies for the Falls and he'd been deputized to off them. Janice says she flipped out and ran up to the Market and had it out with Harkness. She didn't hear conversation but everyone in the Market at the time did...Harkness in effect told her to STFU and get over it, and any other slaver he found on board was getting more of the same."

"Wow", Steve said, "that kid is something else. they ever figure out who that "android" was?"

"Nope", DeLoria said impishly, "Not even blabber-mouth Vera wants to speculate on that, given how the last two people to ask questions literally got scraped off the floor of the Lab. DeLoria then got an off gleam in his eye, and said very quietly. "But do you want to know a secret?"

"Sure", Steve said, "Lay it on me."

Butch then grabbed Steve by the lapels and pulled him close, and whispered in his ear. 

"Harkness used to have a Plasma rifle", Deloria whispered, "Used to." He then let go of Steve and patted a cheek with his hand affectionately and winked. 

"i'd keep that under your hat if I were you", DeLoria said with a smirk, "If something bad happens, I'd have to tell Richie you knew. You really don't want to be on his shit list. You know, back in the Vault he was quiet and kept to himself...". Deloria didn't finish his thought as he was interrupted by a familiar pleading whine. 

"Butchie, baby", Trinnie...the closest thing to a whore Rivet City would allow on board...pleaded said as she wound herself around DeLoria, "My glass is empty...."

"Yeah, Yeah, Baby", DeLoria replied suggestively as he took the opportunity to let his hands roam while she giggled, "Butchie Baby is thirsty, too...perhaps we can help each other out?" DeLoria said as he shifted his attention entirely to the young Lamplighter. 
[/i]

[u][b]Back at the Last Plank[/b][/u]

Rose finished explaining the situation as she saw it, but it wasn't received well. First the old man, who he now knew was named Longfellow, throws a fit about Mainlanders and their problems and storms out, followed by Corrine telling her, in effect, she was on her own as they had problems enough already. As if the locals had actually been doing anything about them. 

"Fine," Rose retorted angrily, "I'll handle this myself then. Its not like I'm not used to it. Its been this way from town to town across the wastes. People just shut their doors and hold their ears, and hope that The Institute doesn't take them. Nobody wants to fight back and nobody is willing to risk their lives to help a Synth. I'll figure out what's going on here one way or the other, and I WILL find the person that killed Bishop. All of you 'tough' harbor folk can go back to drinking yourselves into a stupor."

She then slammed some caps on the counter, then picked up her weapon and stalked out, the door slamming shut behind her. The other locals in the bar looked up for a moment, then back to their drinks. 

"Well", Steve said quietly to Corrine, "That could have gone better." He then added. "I don't live here, so I figured I'd keep my mouth shut and follow your and Longfellow's lead...that was clearly a mistake." He then looked her right in the eye. "You have a gun? Get it if you don't have it on you and meet me at that spot on the Hull we talked at in fifteen minutes. I have a story of my own about "synths" from the Commonwealth that I'll explain to you then....if you don't come looking I'll assume you don't care. In any case, if what she says is true...and I have my own reasons for believing it is...she is next. And whatever this Institute is, I think I can safely say it doesn't have our best interests at heart. I have no idea who killed Bishop or why...but I'll be damned if I sit around and twiddle my thumbs while some bastard goes around killing people that we, frankly, need badly if we're going to see the sunrise the morning after next."

Steve then got to his feet and headed for the door, cracking it open to see if he could spot Rose. Once he felt he could leave without her spotting him right off, he slipped out, and quietly closed the door behind him, then headed along, doing his best to shadow Rose without being too obvious.