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gold-and-rubies · 3 years

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I’m Not an Angel, Baby - Chapter 1

And here’s the first chapter for this fic. It’s in the pov of my courier, Bridget. Warning for violence.

The Mojave Wasteland was an unforgiving place that tended to breed certain types of people. In order to survive one had to be wary, cutthroat, and unforgiving. That or you had to have a good sense of community, people you can fall back on if things go south. Or just really, really lucky. Bridget O' Donaghue was one of the lucky few.

Bridget took a bullet head, with really the only downside being lost memories. It was a curse to not know who you really are, but it was better than the alternatives. She was just thankful that her eyesight did not get worse, and that her glasses did not break.

She sat in what constituted more as a crevice than a cave in the mountains. She wished she had a fire, but the road from Nipton to Novac was crawling with Vipers and Legionaries. She did, however, risk having the radio play on her Pip-Boy. M. New Vegas recounted tales of a random hero’s good deeds. It took her a moment to realize that he was talking about her.

She had no idea what kind of person she was before taking a bullet to the head, but she wanted to be a good person now. Either she was always a good person, or a near death experience her to be one. She supposed it did not matter much.

She sat there and stared at the sky until it was sunrise. It was not safe to travel at night.

She stumbled out of the crevice, and took a moment to stretch out her limbs. They were unbelievably cramped from sitting in there all night. Grabbing her bag, she continued down the road to Novac.

She felt a small amount of relief when the dinosaur came into sight. Towns were usually safe places. Usually.

She walked up to the first person she saw. A woman in a blood soaked tank top. Bridget was starting to second guess the comfort she felt when she first saw the place.

“Um, excuse me?” Bridget said in an attempt to get the woman’s attention.

“Do you need help? Broken bone? Too many rads?” the woman responded.

Although she was caught off guard by all the questions, it was nice to know where the blood came from.

“Uh, no. I just want to ask a few questions.”

“Well, hurry then. I have important things to do,” she demanded.

She narrowed her eyes at her. She was not fond of being talked to like that.

“I’m looking for some people that came through here,” she explained, “One was a man in a black and white suit jacket.”

“I saw them come through here,” the woman nodded, “but I don’t know anything about them. I think they stayed a night. You should talk to Jeanie May. She runs the motel.”

“Thank you,” she said and took off toward the motel. She pushed open the door. It was surprisingly cool inside. A woman sat behind the counter to the right of the door.

“Welcome! Welcome! I’m Jeanie May Crawford, and this is the Dino Dee-lite Motel. You look tired. I hope you didn’t spend too much time on the road,” she smiled.

Something about the woman made Bridget’s skin crawl. She seemed like she was just a sweet, old woman, but there was something off about her.

Her hand fell from the door to her hip, resting on her holstered revolver, “Can I ask you a few questions?”

“Oh, of course dear!”

“There are some people who came through here that I’m looking for. One of them was a man in a black and white checkered jacket. Do you have any ideas as to where they went?”

“Oh yes, I remember that group. They were talking about the city, but they weren’t very civilized. I believe I heard that man say they were heading to New Vegas. I don’t know why though, or which way they headed exactly. You should talk to Manny Vargas. He’s our daytime sniper up in the mouth of Dinky.”

“Thanks,” she responded. Her hand raised back to the door, but she hesitated for a moment. The thought of renting a room crossed her mind. It would have been nice to sleep in an actual bed, but something held her back. She decided it would be better to sleep under the stars here. At least for the time being.

She blinked a few times as she stepped back into the wastes. The sun seemed particularly bright that day.

She made her way up the stairs. Inside the dinosaur she briefly greeted the man running the gift shop before heading up the next set of stairs. He was the first person she met in this town that did not set off any alarm bells. She knocked softly on the door before opening it. The last thing she needed was to be staring down the barrel of a rifle.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Manny greeted.

“Hi. I was just wondering if you could answer some questions for me?”

“Well, what do you want to know?” he asked, his voice edged with caution.

“There was a group of men that were here. One of them had a black and white checkered coat on. I need to know where they went.”

“Must be pretty important if you’re hunting down a group like that,” he folded his arms across his chest.

“I… They took something from me. I need answers,” she explained.

“You know I’d love to help, but I have some things I need help with,” he proposed.

She struggled to suppress a groan in response. She was more than willing to help people, but she did not appreciate the way he set this up.

She rolled her eyes, “Fine. What do you need?”

“Novac is home for me, and I want it to be permanent, but there’s an issue. The only thing we have here is scrap, which we get from the old REPCONN test site. Recently, a bunch of ghouls moved in. They need to go. I’d do it myself, but I need to keep watch,” he explained.

She folded her arms over her chest, “Alright, but don’t expect me to get it done right away. I haven’t slept for a few days.”

“As long as you get it done.”

She nodded, and headed back down. She spent the rest of the day asking everyone else if they had any information on the man. Instead she ended up agreeing to help the old ranger and the McBrides. She also heard whispers about the other sniper. The one with the night shift.

Her body ached from the long day, but she forced herself to climb the steps again. Again she softly knocked on the door before opening. This time the man on the other side of the door was a lot less welcoming.

“Don’t sneak up on me. What do you want?” he demanded.

Despite his unwelcoming tone, he was one of the few people there that she did not immediately feel genuinely threatened by. She could sense something was wrong, but not in the same way as the old woman.

“Relax,” Bridget put up her hands, “I’m just here to ask a few questions.”

“I think you need to leave,” he said coolly.

“Look, I’m only here to get some information. The sooner I get that the sooner I’ll leave,” she argued.

“Wait. You aren’t from around here are you? Maybe you shouldn’t go. Not yet.”

She scowled at the sudden change, “Why?”

“I need someone I can trust. You’re a stranger. That’s a start,” he said. His expression was impossible to read from behind his sunglasses. She realized he was wearing sunglasses at night. She became more confused.

One of her eyebrows raised from the scowl, “You only trust strangers?”

“I said it was a start,” he reiterated, “This town… nobody looks me in eyes anymore.”

“What do you want me to do?” she asked cautiously. She was unsure of what to make of the situation. While she did not feel like he was a bad person, the words from his mouth were not exactly reassuring.

“I want you to find something out for me,” he sighed, “I don’t know if there is anything to find, but I need someone I can try. My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch. They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don’t know who.”

Her scowl turned into an apologetic frown, “I’m sorry. I know how horrible the Legion can be. I was the first person to see what they did to Nipton. You want me to track her down?”

“No. I want the son of a bitch who sold her… I know she’s dead.”

She nodded, “Alright, I’m more than willing to help. What do you want me to do?”

He pulled his beret off and handed it to her, “Take the person to the front of the dinosaur and put this on. I’ll take care of the rest.”

She nodded, and headed back down the stairs for the second time. Normally she would not agree to helping with a hit like this, or at least she thought she would not do it. This person, though, no matter how innocent they seemed, did something unforgivable, and they could be putting others at risk.

She ran through all the people in the town. Given their statuses as ex-NCR army, and their reactions to what happened at the ranger station, she immediately crossed out Manny and Ranger Andy. Nobark was too paranoid to do anything like that. As off putting as the doctor seemed, Bridget did not think she would do something like that, and she was too new. Cliff apparently spent all of his time in the dinosaur or his home. That left the McBrides and Jeanie May.

She settled on Jeanie. The old woman filled her with dread already. It would not hurt to do some investigating.

She walked to the door of the motel lobby, and was surprised to see the door was unlocked. Trust like that was rare.

She looked around the room, and immediately spotted the safe behind the desk. She pulled out a bobby pin she hid in the bun holding her black hair from her face. She cracked the safe in a small amount of time. She pulled out the first paper she laid eyes on, and felt her blood run cold.

It was the perfect proof. A bill of sale. She pocketed that, and the caps for good measure.

She jogged over to Jeanie May’s home, trying not to shake too much from the anticipation. She banged on the door, and hoped it would wake her up.

Luckily, it did, and before she could say anything Bridget was begging her to follow her. She tried not to show any reaction to how easily she agreed to follow.

“So, what did you need to show me, dear?” she asked once they got to the front of the dinosaur.

Bridget pointed straight ahead of them, and pulled on the beret, “Over there.”

The sound of Boone’s rifle sounded as soon as the beret was on her head. She looked down to her side, and sure enough she laid dead beside her.

Boone was ready for her this time when she opened the door this time. She immediately handed over the beret.

“How did you know?” he asked, grabbing it from her.

“This,” she said, handing over the bill of sale.

“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he sighed, “Here. A hundred caps. It’s all I can give. I think our dealings are done here.”

She ran her thumb over the bag of caps. She looked at him, and a feeling that she should not leave him behind.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. I won’t be staying. Don’t really see the point in doing anything, but hunting legionaries. Maybe I’ll wander. Like you.”

“You could come with me,” she offered.

“You don’t want that,” he argued.

“I have to take care of something, but I’m planning on taking down as many of those fuckers I can along the way, besides, you’ll do a lot better if you have someone watching your back.”

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Well, alright then. We can head out when you’re ready,” she nodded. She hid how pleased she was to have someone to watch her back.

“Tomorrow evening would be best.”

“Okay,” she agreed, and proceeded down the stairs for the third time that day.

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