[IC] Atomic Rain (Fallout)

[Nekoholic]

Kate slowly clapped, her applause gradually increasing in tempo and volume. She then grinned from ear-to-ear, and said, "Aw, he understands now. I think your friend caught on a long time before you, though." She looked at the shorter, dark-haired one. "Didn't you?"
Basil narrowed his eyes, and replied, "Why do you want the G.E.C.K.?"
She rolled her eyes, and responded, "Why, to save the world, of course!" She stood, tapping her chin with one finger. However, before she could continue, she was surprised to hear the ghoul in the back interrupt.
"People who are alone seldom care about more than themselves, much less the state of the world," Leith said. He knew; when he'd lost his family, he simply ceased to care.
Kate was silent for a moment, but then laughed, "Perhaps you are just envious because it's too late for such a device to save you, no?"
Leith felt a muscle twitch in his jaw at that remark.

[NinjaButterfly]

Kaye rarely got angered but when she took a direct hit at Leith, she felt her self control slipping away. Without saying a word, she pulled out her pistol and walked towards her. Just as she raised the gun to shoot, Jace quickly snatched it out of her hand. Not that that stopped her from rushing her, bare-fisted but Jace once again caught her around the waist, making her legs fly in the air when he grabbed her so suddenly.
"You have some nerve, you bitch!" she yelled at her, glaring. "You'd be lucky to be half the person Leith is, you cu-"
"Calm down, Kaye," Jace said through gritted teeth. He wasn't none too happy about this girl either, but at least he wasn't the only one who wanted to kill her. "For someone who is trying to make new friends girl, you ainn't doing such a good job at it.

[Nekoholic]

Kate only laughed again, and said, "Well, at least one person in this group has initiative."
Leith hurried over to Kaye, taking her from Jace's hold; he assumed that Jace wasn't too pleased with having to hold down the pint-sized devil. He then murmured to her, "Easy there, Kaye. Words won't hurt me as much as her laser pistol will you." That was a weapon wielded only by those of class; he recalled that was how he would have phrased such a thing, back in the old days. He then began to piece it together, the realization dawning on him with impending horror.
Oh, shit.

[NinjaButterfly]

"She just thinks she can say what she wants and get away with it?!" Kaye struggled a little more in Leith's arms but finally gave up, knowing it was futile.
Jace narrowed his eyes at the girl and used Kaye's pistol to aim it at the chick. "Initiative? Perhaps I could shoot you now and save us the trouble of doing so later?"
"You have my vote!" Kaye yelled, still glaring at her.
He ignored her. "If you are after the G.E.C.K. as well, then you will most likely try to take it from us. So why should I let you live?"

[Nekoholic]

"Don't shoot, Jace," Leith snapped, narrowing his eyes at her.
Kate peered at him curiously, lips curved in a smirk.
Back before the war, there had always been corruption; everywhere one looked, there were knives been shoved into people's backs. The government would annex otherwise friendly nations, would wage war over resources, and CEOs would sink other businesses in order to stay afloat themselves, and even neighbors who just so happened to make a few more dollars than the other would suddenly be seeking methods of eliminating potential competition and would flaunt about as if they owned the world, as if nothing could touch them. Judgment would be passed, but it was always flawed. The world remained the same, even after two hundred years. No one would ever learn lessons from history. Organizations who thought that they could and would stomp down others persisted.
And one that he had been acquainted with, to an extent, even before the war, was one of the strongest out there.
"She's one of the Brotherhood," Leith said, voice quiet.
Kate grinned, "What an entertaining puzzle it has been."

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace's eyes widened slightly at that and hesitated in his movements. He stared at her for a long time before cursing under his breath. If what Leith had said was true, then they definitely didn't need the entire Brotherhood of Steel breathing down their necks. He doubted they would be able to trace them, but they rarely travelled alone and if there were any nearby that knew of her location, they would easily track them down and destroy them all.
"This just keeps getting better and better..." Jace muttered, still glaring at her as he lowered his gun. Everyone remained silent for a long moment as everyone was left with their own thoughts. "I will not kill you as long as you stay the hell out of our way. This is our mission and the likes of your filthy group is not going to take it from us. We need it more than your pampered, pathetic lives."

[Nekoholic]

"Ah, on the contrary," Kate said vaguely. She then straightened up, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "But you're mere citizens, leading primitive lifestyles. You have to scavenge for food, scrap together rusted parts for the most basic of machines and medicinal practices. How could any of you be educated enough to properly utilize a G.E.C.K.?"
"We're not animals," Basil snapped, "In fact, we must be smarter than the rest of you combined, considering that we've managed to survive out here without the help of past technologies."
Leith smirked at that; the kid really had fire in him at times.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace let a smirk slip to his face momentarily but it quickly fell. "Maybe if the likes of your people didn't steal everything that suits your needs from our people, then much of the world would be more civilized and advanced. And besides, at least we don't have to lead pampered lives to survive." He slowly approached the Brotherhood member and stopped a mere foot from her, glaring down at her fiercely. "We will have the G.E.C.K. and if you take it from us...I can guarantee it will not end prettily."

[Nekoholic]

Kate rolled her eyes, and inquired, "What even makes you think that one is here?"

[NinjaButterfly]

"Whether there is one here or not, it means you will continue searching for one. And if you happen to come across it before we do, then I will not have any choice but to kill you. So your best bet is to leave now and go back to your little hideout."
While everyone was dealing with the girl, Kaye's ears perked upon hearing a noise coming from the hallway. It was very faint and could have merely been radroaches crawling in the air ducts, but it had her gently shoving Leith to the side and she stepped out into the hallway. Of course no one noticed her departure aside from Leith, who she was sure was following behind her.
"I heard something..." she muttered, mostly to herself. She took her combat knife out of its sheath and held it at the ready. Considering Jace confiscated her pistol, this would have to do.

[Nekoholic]

Basil apprehensively watched the exchange between the Brotherhood of Steel lady and Jace, remaining silent as he instead took mental notes on what she said. She seemed rather confident; from what he knew, all Brotherhood of Steel members were, considering that they had every reason to be with their heavy suits of metal, top-of-the-line energy weapons, and hordes of hidden technology that they had amassed and hid from the common people for many decades now, but even the most arrogant and conceited of people could have their ego trashed and scattered in the tenser moments.
He sighed softly, and said as he turned around, "Let's leave, Jace."

Leith, despite wishing that Kaye would just remain in this one room until further notice, hurried after her. It was then that he also detected the noise. It vaguely sounded like vermin, ones that they could easily squash underneath their boots and forget about, but he knew that if that was truly the case, they would have heard it long ago. No, it was more likely that more raiders lied in wait elsewhere in the vault, preparing either a sneak attack or an escape.
"Kaye, let me go first," he whispered, pushing past her to stand in front. He gestured towards her knife as he removed his revolver from its holster on his hip.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace turned to look at Basil with wide eyes, incredulous. He stared at him for a long time before finally speaking. "Are you insane? We come this far and now you want to just leave with one snag in the road?" Okay, so maybe there had been a baker's dozen or two of hitches in the road, but he had had a good feeling about this one. And to leave without knowing just seemed stupid in his book. "This...woman, could already have it hidden somewhere. Do you really want to risk overlooking it?"

Kaye, still trying to be on her best behavior like Leith had said, allowed him to go first but kept close behind him. Although she wasn't much of the mercenary or soldierly type, she knew how to handle a weapon though situations like this still freaked her out. She didn't like varmint at all and usually squealed when seeing a radroach or a rat, but what jumped out at them definitely wasn't either of those things.
A raider had been hiding inside an open vent as he listened to the people arguing in the cafeteria. He was on he way up from the basement, having been the only one to escape the hellfire down there, and was going to up rendezvous with the two in the cafeteria to tell them what had happened. He'd been looking for an opening to escape for two days and had finally found one, but not without getting shot in the right shoulder.
Once he'd gotten upstairs, he heard gunshots and voices that didn't sound like his comrade's voices, so hidden and waited for them to leave. He wasn't a coward, not by a long shot, but he wasn't an idiot. When you knew you would lose, then what was the point of charging headlong into Death's arms? When he heard the two approaching, though, he panicked, knowing they would see him hiding there but it was the only place that was in quick access.
He jumped out of his hiding place, a rusty pistol raised with a shaky hand. "D-Don't shoot and I won't shoot!" He backed up a few paces and tripped over his own feet, landing on the floor. Although he was frightened, he tried not to show it. "Don't come any closer!"

[Nekoholic]

Basil sighed, and said, "Look, she has it. We'll find another one. There are so many vaults that I doubt this is the only one left that is functional." He glanced at the woman before he continued walking back the way they'd come. "She's Brotherhood of Steel, Jace; it'd be wisest to leave her alone. We can't further risk having them come after us. We don't know what all they have hidden behind their backs, but I'd also rather not find out."
Kate smirked, but then asked, "Hey, kid. What do you plan on doing with a G.E.C.K., anyways?"
Giving pause, Basil eventually replied, "Using it for its intended purpose. Terraforming, purification. What else would I do with it?"
"Fixed functionality is the bane to the greatest minds," she said, but gave a dismissive shrug, "But nonetheless, good luck. I won't tell my friends of you four, so long as you don't deliberately make yourselves known to them."

Leith aimed his gun between the raider's eyes, but halted when he realized that this one was particularly young. He sighed, "Christ, you're a kid." He shook his head. "Look, lower the gun. I'd rather not end your life, okay?" To bear witness to a teenager in ratty clothes, plates of rusted metal that he didn't doubt came from the door of an old car, with a gun that would probably blow up in his face, was just...sad to him, to say the least. Not to mention that he appeared to be hurt, if the blood that seeped from his shoulder was any indication. Not only that, but the bruises that were scattered all over his face, his bloodshot eyes, the pure terror that seeped from him in waves. Someone this young shouldn't have to become a ruthless murderer in order to survive. But that was just the world they lived in, wasn't it?

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace hadn't been at such a dilemma in his entire life than he was right now. If what Basil said was true, then their mission was staring them right in the face. And the girl's next words confirmed as much. As Basil begun to walk out the door, he stayed where he was, not knowing what to do. He was always about fair game and what such, but this was proving to be too difficult for him to surrender to.
After watching Basil walking away, it made something click in his brain. Too many times had they gotten their hopes up only to be led to another part of the endless maze and now that they had reached the end, there was no way he could let it slip through their hands. With gritted teeth, he raised the gun once more in between the girl's eyes at point blank range. His eyes were set with the most serious expression he'd ever had, yet at the same time were the mirrors of desperation.
"No...not this time," he said in a low voice. "You will hand it over...and you will give it to me now."

The raider's eyes widened slightly but quickly narrowed once more in distrust. "How can you expect me to trust you so easily, ghoul? You will kill me the moment I lower my gun." He slowly continued to scoot away from them. There was little doubt in his mind that he was about to die either way but tried his best to push it in the back of his mind. Not that he had much to live for, anyways, but it didn't mean the prospect still frightened him.

[Nekoholic]

Basil turned back, eyes widening as he saw Jace raise the gun once more, aiming it between the soldier's eyes. He shook his head, and said, "Jace, no! We will find another one, so we don't need to kill her. And deep down, you know that this will only cause us more problems in the future, even if we were to gain the G.E.C.K. here and now! So lower the gun and leave with me, okay? Please..."
Kate only smirked. "What? Do you believe that I just left it lying around somewhere? It's gone. I'm just here to perform more research, to gather more information regarding the other vaults and this one's prior experimentation. Killing me will do nothing for you; in fact, it'll only cause your friend to hate you."

Leith sighed, holstering his revolver. He then outstretched his hands. "Do you believe me now, kid? I don't want to hurt you." He glanced at Kaye, then focused on the boy again. "If you come with us, we can help you. We have the supplies necessary to patch up your shoulder. If you leave it as it is, then you'll either go into shock or it'll become infected."

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace completely ignored Basil's words and held his ground. He was in a state now where he couldn't think of nothing else but the finish line that was laid before him. "You lie! You tried deceiving us when we first got here; you are lying about this. I know you are." He put a little more pressure on the trigger, grinning slightly. "Do you want to know something? Desperate men make the worse of enemies. Do you know why? Because we have nothing to lose and nothing to hold us back. So you will tell me or we both die."

Kaye hesitated for a moment before sheathing her knife as well. She didn't know if she could trust this raider, but if Leith was trying to reason with him then she would have to follow his lead. "Just listen to him, alright? No one has to get hurt here."
The raider stared at him for a long moment, not knowing what to do. He still felt he would pull a fast one on him and still try killing him as soon as he lowered his own weapon and was completely at a loss. He shook his head once more.
"Give...give me your weapons and then we'll talk. I don't trust anyone outside my own family, you understand?"

[Nekoholic]

Kate narrowed her eyes, no longer smiling. "Back down, Jace. Listen to your friend on this one. He has sense."
"Jace, please, listen to me," Basil pleaded.

Leith sighed, contemplating on the request for a moment. If it meant that there was the possibility of saving a kid's life, then, yes, he'd risk his life; after all, he'd lived through two of them. However, Kaye was also at risk here. She was only a few years older than the boy here, as well.
Finally, he sighed, and set his gun down on the ground. He then kicked it over to him. "Here. Keep it, too. That one in your hands is liable to kill you just as much as me."

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace stared at her for a long time until another thought formed in his mind. Although reluctant, he finally lowered the weapon. Without another word, he turned around and started walking towards the door. As he passed Basil, he shoved harshly into his shoulder. He knew he'd feel guilty about it later but for the moment he was pissed at him. He knew he was being irrational, but they had it in at their fingertips! And he allowed the moment to slip away.

The raider was in a shocked stupor when he actually slid his weapon over. He quickly scrambled to pick the gun up and tossed his own to the side before taking aim with his good gun. Slowly, he managed to find his feet underneath him and stood up, keeping the gun trained on him.
'Oh my god, I cannot believe that actually worked by using a gun with no bullets...'
"Give me all of your supplies and I will be on my way," he said in a little more sturdy voice.
Kaye's eyes widened and was momentarily caught off guard from what had just happened but when she realized it, she was pissed. She even slapped Leith on the back. "Good job on giving him the upper hand, you idiot! He's a raider, you can't trust them!"
The raider tried forcing a smile to his face though it turned out to only be a facial twitch. "Just shut up! And give me everything you have!"

[Nekoholic]

Basil winced when Jace deliberately ran into him, but merely sighed in response to the antagonism. Did Jace think that he was happy, that he was proud, to leave the vault empty-handed? He'd been on this journey, as well, for months now, and he was just as damned tired of finding leads and just as quickly losing them. But if they had found a vault that had one functional G.E.C.K., then he had hope that there'd be another. And the last thing that either of them needed was the Brotherhood of Steel coming after them; this way, perhaps the woman would remain true to her word and keep their own expedition under wraps. That way, they could all keep to their own business in peace.
"Wait a minute," he murmured, just now noticing that Kaye and Leith had disappeared. Had they feared a worse confrontation and finally decided to take the risk of excavating deeper into the vault? Well, they weren't here for a G.E.C.K., so he couldn't see why not; after all, they were just a couple of dealers of junk. Anything was worth something to them.

Leith sighed, ignoring Kaye's dissatisfaction with the results of his kindness. He then reached into the smaller bag that he always kept on him, pulling out what appeared to be a miniature first-aid kit; it was nothing fancy, but in times of crisis, it had become useful for hasty jobs of stitching and disinfecting. He then dropped it onto the grimy floor, kicking it forward.
"You're not getting anything else, kid, unless you put the gun down. I don't want to fight you, but I would also prefer to keep my belongings," he said.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace didn't speak as he made his way through the hallway, putting as much distance between the Brotherhood soldier as he could before he changed his mind and put a bullet through her head. He knew that it would have caused even more unnecessary trouble for the later on down the road.
"We had it...in the palm of our hands!" he finally said when he was for certain the soldier couldn't hear. He whipped around to Basil and glared down at him. "Do you know the only thing that held me back from killing that pampered bitch? You. If you hadn't been with me, then I would have saved everyone back home." He ran his hand through his hair and started pacing around. "No, I had to worry about you being mad at me and I let you get inside my head like you always do."

"I'm the one with the gun, ghoul," the raider snapped. He winced when raising his voice shot lightning through his shoulder blade. A little more softly, he continued. "I don't want to have to kill you, but I will if that's what it takes. Give me food and water." In all honestly, he had killed before and it never seized to haunt his thoughts every night. 'It wasn't my fault...I had to do it...just like now...'